Are the Somali Pirates Like the Barbary Pirates?
by Lawrence A. Peskin
Mr. Peskin is Associate Professor of History, Morgan State University, and the author of the new book, Captives and Countrymen: Barbary Slavery and the American Public, 1785--1816 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009).
At a recent press confrence, Secretary of State Clinton pointed out that piracy in Africa is not a new problem for the United States. In a similar vein, the
New York Times noted that the recent capture of the
Maersk-Alabama off the coast of Somalia was the first time an American ship had been captured by pirates in 200 years. While the math was slightly inaccurate, the connection between the turn-of-the-19th century Barbary Piracy crisis and this turn-of-the-21st century crisis bears examination.
