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Many of the Barbary pirates amassed great riches while also developing fearsome reputations their legend reverberated around the Mediterranean basin, sometimes even further. But, of course, every ransom paid only strengthened a pirate’s hand.ĭr Rebecca Simon responds to your questions on the 17th-century golden age of piracy and discusses how accurate pop culture portrayals of pirates are on this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast Ransoms put on the heads of slaves were also paid, too, either by governments or by religious organisations like the Mercedarians, a body set up purely to cover the ransoms demanded. Read more | The real pirates of the Caribbean: your guide to Nassau's pirate republic.European governments tried to counteract the piracy by offering bribes to the pirates, or commissioning them to work as official privateers. Most were sailors, but their number also contained fishermen and residents of raided coastal villages. Some estimates put the number of Europeans enslaved by Barbary pirates into seven figures. Vessels sailing under all and any flags were considered fair game, making the Mediterranean a particular perilous sea for every nation. Nor did the pirates discriminate about which ships they attacked. Read more | Famous pirates: who are worst and most notorious in history?.