For decades prior to Jefferson's accession to office, the Barbary Coast Pirates of North Africa had been capturing foreign merchant and warships, stealing their valuable cargoes and enslaving crew members, while often demanding huge ransoms for their release. Many of these ships and crews were American. The Barbary Pirates also attacked the coastal northern Mediterranean, launching attacks against France, Italy and Sicily, kidnapping women as white slaves, primarily and whenever possible, notable wealthy persons and ships for ransom. After a feverish search for white women slaves, a few pirates even went as far as the coast of Iceland, raiding inland to kidnap women and bring them back to North Africa. North African slave markets thrived, as under Islamic law, known as Sharia. Although fellow Muslims could not be enslaved, none Muslims could be and were.
