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Article: The Barbary pirates: a war against high-seas thieving helps transform the U.S. into a naval power.(American History Play)(Play)
- Article from:
- Junior Scholastic
- Article date:
- December 8, 2008
- Author:
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PROLOGUE
Prologue narrator: In 1783, the American Revolution ended, and the United States won independence from Great Britain. To grow and flourish, the young country needed to trade with other countries across the Atlantic Ocean. But Atlantic commerce was controlled by the often-hostile powers of Britain, France, and Spain. The Mediterranean Sea was prowled by all even more merciless foe--the Barbary pirates.
For centuries, sailors feared tile pirates of the Barbary States (see map, p. 12). Thousands of ships were captured and plundered, their sailors sold into slavery. The rulers of the Barbary States used the pirates ...