1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 1: I'm editor Candice Gibson, joined today by the fabulous and 4 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,960 Speaker 1: oh so awesome Josh Click. Thank you Cannis and let 5 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: me say you are and ahoy to you. Oh that 6 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: reminds me of a joke that I know. Okay, yeah, 7 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: what what do pirates drive cars? That's great. You know, 8 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: there's not enough pirate jokes these days. No, but there's 9 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: no shortage of pirates. I mean you've got Johnny Depp 10 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: and sure Keith Richards, and Johnny Depp doing Keith Richards, 11 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: and then Johnny Depp pretending East Keith Richards, which is 12 00:00:46,479 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: totally different. And then Johnny Depp recently played a musical 13 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: instrument on stage somewhere, not under the guise of a 14 00:00:52,680 --> 00:01:00,080 Speaker 1: pirate musical, a guitar, nice one. That's great. You know 15 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: there's also some real life pirates off the coast of 16 00:01:03,240 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: Somalia is a strong haven for pirates these days. And 17 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 1: actually that's uh, that's kind of been the way it's 18 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: been for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Do you 19 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,919 Speaker 1: remember when we were doing the America's first Murderer podcast, 20 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:21,600 Speaker 1: and we were saying, like, one of the cool things 21 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: about America being such a young nation as we can 22 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,479 Speaker 1: point to the first you know, like, we know who 23 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: America's first murderer was, and um, the first child born 24 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:34,559 Speaker 1: in America. Sure, that kind of thing, Virginia Dair, first 25 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,039 Speaker 1: English child born in America was Virginia Dare. Uh. We 26 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: should really make that that distinction, thank you. Um. Actually, 27 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: we can point to America's first terrorist threat. We know 28 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: exactly what it was. And you know, in the world today, 29 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,960 Speaker 1: it's it's kind of a commonplace thing. We're always thinking 30 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: about terrorism. It's always somewhere in the back of our mind, 31 00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: especially around you know, September eleven, which is around the 32 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 1: time and we're recording this right, um, But the terrorists 33 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: of your are well are kind of a different ilk 34 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: than than the ones we're running into today. Do you 35 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: do you know much about the Barbary pirates? I do. 36 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:24,640 Speaker 1: These guys were smart. They were Class A extorationists. They 37 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: essentially set up camp along the Barbary coast and they 38 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: had really gosh full rain over the Mediterranean. Really, they 39 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 1: were European ships that would make several routes back and 40 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: forth between Europe and the East Indies which is today 41 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: the Middle East, and the Barbary Pirates caught one of 42 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: this and they're like, you know, these guys, they they're wealthy, 43 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: they have all these goods on board their ships. Why 44 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: don't we kidnap them and thunder? They're good? This is 45 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: they weren't the first ones to come up with the 46 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: bar The Barbary Pirates were named after the Barbary Coast, 47 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,200 Speaker 1: which is the North African coast today like live and 48 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: l Jeers and that kind of thing. Morocco Um and 49 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: the coast was named after the brothers Barbarossa, which was 50 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:10,639 Speaker 1: I believe Spanish for red beards. It was the Spaniards 51 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: who were getting attacked the most frequently Um and the 52 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,919 Speaker 1: these these two brothers, the two red Beard brothers, were 53 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: actually Turks who came down to the coast of North 54 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: Africa to assist the Moors. So anyway, these two Turkish brothers, 55 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 1: the red Beard brothers, Um, the Barbarossa brothers, came down. 56 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: They're helping the Moors get back at the Spanish by 57 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: um molesting ships, capturing people, enslaving them, and they started 58 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: to make a lot of money doing this. But like 59 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: I said, they weren't the first once the Mediterranean, especially 60 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 1: in the area, had been the site of piracy for 61 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: thousands of years by the time the Barbarossa brothers showed up. 62 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: So that's the story of the Barbary coast up to well, 63 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: I stand correct, and I don't even know what to 64 00:03:58,280 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: do with myself now. I'm say he used to being 65 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: an at all. So not coincidentally, that year really begins 66 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: the age of exploration to the New World. But like 67 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: you said, by this time, all of Europe was going 68 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: to the East Indies for hundreds of years by then, right, 69 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 1: And as a result, all of Europe was under the 70 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: thumb of these Barbary pirates. Uh. The thing is is 71 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: people kept giving tribute to them, kept paying them off, 72 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: kept basically bribing these people to leave their country alone 73 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: or leaving ships from the country alone, but you know, 74 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: maybe harass other countries. I had heard though, that it 75 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: was actually your favorite president, Mr Thomas Jefferson, who finally 76 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:44,640 Speaker 1: stood up to the Barbary pirates when no one else would. 77 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:49,920 Speaker 1: Is that fact or fiction? That's fact? Okay, it is fact. 78 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: T Jay is my faith and you know he had 79 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,279 Speaker 1: red hair, not to be confused with the red bearded pirates. 80 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,720 Speaker 1: He was, you know, his pretty ballsy. And America was 81 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:02,839 Speaker 1: a very a young nation, but it had grown exponentially 82 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:05,360 Speaker 1: by this time, and so the Barbary pirates had been 83 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: demanding tribute from American ships, and originally it had been 84 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: a more modest sum. I think that eighty thousand dollars 85 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: had been the first amount actually built into the United 86 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,760 Speaker 1: States budgets. So the US was paying tribute like everybody 87 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,039 Speaker 1: else because they were they were going through the Mediterranean 88 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:25,840 Speaker 1: as well to get to the East Indies right precisely. Well, 89 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:30,920 Speaker 1: that was four but then by sevent they were demanding 90 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,600 Speaker 1: one million dollars. What was the what was the change? Well, 91 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,039 Speaker 1: because the US was getting bigger and it was importing 92 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: and experting more and being more frequently on these trade routes. 93 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:45,239 Speaker 1: And at this point Thomas Jefferson sort of took notice 94 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: of the situation, and the US had really good diplomatic 95 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,360 Speaker 1: relations with France. Ben Franklin had originally been the US 96 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: Minister to France, and he had set up a treaty 97 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: with France that set essentially, you know, you look out 98 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:58,360 Speaker 1: for the American sailors will look out for the French 99 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,120 Speaker 1: sailors everything, you know, tip for tat on the high 100 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,280 Speaker 1: seas against these pirates. And then Thomas Jefferson when he 101 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: was ministered to France, when he was actually in Paris, 102 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:10,880 Speaker 1: you know, gathering ideas for the architecture of Monticello, he 103 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: also started to think about, well, why can't we take 104 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,479 Speaker 1: the superpower of France and the growing strength of the 105 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: US and maybe reach out to England and see if 106 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:24,040 Speaker 1: we can form some sort of coalition against these pirates. 107 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: But no one was on board. It was just him 108 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,040 Speaker 1: and well, I imagine England was still a little irked 109 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 1: from you know, the whole revolution and everything. Yeah, pretty much. 110 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:36,560 Speaker 1: So finally, when Thomas Jefferson has elected the presidency, he 111 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,000 Speaker 1: has the ability to say at that point, okay, this 112 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:42,599 Speaker 1: is it. And it was perfect timing because at this 113 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: point that Barbary pirates had gotten some American sailors and 114 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: essentially they told the U s Okay, we're going to 115 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:51,159 Speaker 1: release two. You are going to pay us this much money, 116 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: and if you don't, we're going to war. And that 117 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:56,719 Speaker 1: was just the door that Thomas Jefferson was looking for. 118 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: He was like, all right, we're going to war. It 119 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: was that simple. So he sent his eight eight to 120 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: the Mediterranean. And there were actually two sets of barbary 121 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,799 Speaker 1: wars that resulted from this, and the first that Thomas 122 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: Jefferson wage, they were sort of uneventful. It was mostly 123 00:07:11,160 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: sea battles, you know, maritime fighting. It went on for 124 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: four years and it ended with a treaty and things 125 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: were okay for a couple of years after that. I mean, 126 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 1: I think that there was still some plundering and pillaging 127 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 1: and raping and slave trading going on, but typical pirates, 128 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 1: typical pirates stuff. Anyway. Uh In eighteen fifteen, when James 129 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: Monroe came along, there was a second set of barbary wars, 130 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: and he was a little bit more shall we say, 131 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: assertive than Thomas Jefferson was. Sure. He's the one who 132 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: came up with the Monroe doctrine, right, yeah, you wanna 133 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:48,680 Speaker 1: you wanna have out of with that. That's the world 134 00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:51,800 Speaker 1: police doctrine pretty much right, that the US would serve 135 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,880 Speaker 1: as the police of the Western hemisphere as far as 136 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 1: I know, And that they did, and they gave it 137 00:07:57,800 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: back to these pirates. It was like all those years 138 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: of pent up frustration of of having American sailors kidnapped 139 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,360 Speaker 1: and having to doll out and money. Finally, just you know, 140 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: you came to Ahead today. It came to Ahead, I understand. 141 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: You know what I find striking though, and I've heard 142 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 1: this before, that you said that a treaty ended the 143 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: first Barbary War, right, and um, I think that was 144 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: brokered by a diplomat that the US actually had in Um, 145 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: one of the Barbary states. Then you find it on 146 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: that that we had diplomats like trying to broker peace 147 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:37,400 Speaker 1: deals stationed in these these countries that were run by pirates. 148 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:39,560 Speaker 1: You would think so, but I think that it was 149 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: sort of no holds barred when it came to this 150 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:46,120 Speaker 1: piracy because for so long we had been negotiating with 151 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: pirates like they were businessmen. You know, there were sums 152 00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:53,440 Speaker 1: worked out, there were tributes paid, there were I think 153 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:57,120 Speaker 1: some sort of backhand, backhanded deals waged against them in 154 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: order to get the release of prisoners. And you know, 155 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: it wasn't unheard of for something like this to occur. 156 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: So that's like the original state sponsored terrorism. Huh wow, 157 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:11,720 Speaker 1: all right, thanks Cannice. I get it now. And is fact? 158 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,839 Speaker 1: You say fact that's great. So I have a little 159 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:18,120 Speaker 1: fact of my own. You want to hear it? Yeah, sure, 160 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:21,959 Speaker 1: I want to hear it. So you know the marine him, Yes, 161 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: you've heard it. You know, from the halls of Montezouma 162 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: to the shores of Triple Lee. Yeah, that's a nice sparitane. 163 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:33,439 Speaker 1: Thank you. That um that that shores of Tripoli was 164 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 1: actually from the Barbary war. I think it was the 165 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:41,720 Speaker 1: second one. The Marines stormed Tripoli, Libya and basically took 166 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:45,080 Speaker 1: care of business. So that's where that part of the 167 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 1: first line of the Marines him comes from. Did you did? 168 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:52,720 Speaker 1: And if you want to know even more about the 169 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:56,400 Speaker 1: Barbary pirates, maybe even as much, if not more than Josh, 170 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:59,440 Speaker 1: you can read what was America's First terrorist threat on 171 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:03,200 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. For more on this and 172 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com. 173 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: Let us know what you think. Send an email to 174 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:12,559 Speaker 1: podcast at how stuff works dot com. M