First Barbary war (1801–1805) was in fact first fight between young USA and jihadism. Pirates supported from the Barbary States in North Africa were seizing American merchant ships and holding the crews for ransom. They demanded young American republic had to pay tribute to Barbary rulers. This kind of piracy had a very long history but this time affected USA for the first time. Richer European states like France or England were able to pay tributes and saw this even as a way to get rid of their not so rich competition. Already on 11 October 1784, Moroccan pirates seized first USA ship. A year later pirates from Algeria started to capture American ships. 115 sailors were set free but USA had to pay over $1 million. This amount totaled about one-sixth of the entire U.S. budget and was demanded as tribute by the Barbary States to prevent further piracy. Some captured sailors were used as slave labour force in North Africa. In March 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to London to negotiate with Tripoli's envoy, ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman. When they enquired "concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury", the ambassador replied: It was written in their Koran, (that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise). He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy's ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once. When USA built stronger navy under president Thomas Jefferson USA felt strong enough to decline to pay tribute to Barbary rulers and war was declared on American republic. In October 1803, Tripoli's fleet captured USS warship Philadelphia. But later Philadelphia now in the enemy hands was destroyed by American marines. The turning point in the war was the battle of Derna (April–May 1805). Small force of U.S. Marines and five hundred mercenaries—Greeks from Crete, Arabs ( supporters of a deposed ruler in Tripoli ), and Berbers on a march across the desert from Egypt to capture the Tripolitan city of Derna. This was the first time the United States flag was raised in victory on foreign soil. The capturing of the city gave American negotiators leverage in securing the return of hostages and the end of the war. The First Barbary War was beneficial to the reputation of the United States' military command and war mechanism. But soon Barbary states again started to size American ships and taking hostages. That led to second Barbary war which ened all the tributes paid by USA to North African rulers. First Barbary War - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
Also Ottoman Empire and its caliphs encouraged privateering as long as the empire received its share of tributes. Privateering had two aims: to enslave captives, who were usually Christian, and to ransom hostages for tribute. https://www.thoughtco.com/who-were-the-barbary-pirates-2352842
