A pirate based on the North African Barbary
Coast. From the 16th century onward the
corsairs plundered shipping in the
Mediterranean and Atlantic, holding hostages
for ransom or selling them as slaves.
Although many punitive expeditions were sent
against them, they were not suppressed until
France occupied Algiers 1830. Most pirates
were Turkish or North African, but there were
also many Europeans, such as the Englishman
Sir Francis Verney, half-brother of Edmund
Verney.