Beylik of Tunis in the context of "Barbary states"

The Barbary Wars were a series of two wars fought by the United States, Sweden, and the Kingdom of Sicily against the Barbary states (including Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli) and Morocco of North Africa in the early 19th century. Sweden had been at war with the Tripolitans since 1800 and was joined by the newly independent U.S. The First Barbary War extended from 10 May 1801 to 10 June 1805, with the Second Barbary War lasting only three days, ending on 19 June 1815. The Barbary Wars were the first major American wars fought entirely outside the New World, and in the Arab World.

The wars were largely a reaction to piracy by the Barbary states. Since the 16th century, North African pirates had captured ships and even raided European coastal areas across the Mediterranean Sea. Originally starting out with the goal of capturing individuals for the domestic North African slave trade, the focus later shifted to kidnapping for ransom. By the 19th century, pirate activity had declined, but Barbary pirates continued to demand tribute from American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean. Refusal to pay would result in the capture of American ships and goods, and often the enslavement or ransoming of crew members.

The Barbary Coast (also Barbary, Berbery, or Berber Coast) were the coastal areas of central and western North Africa, more specifically, the Maghreb and the Ottoman borderlands consisting of the regencies in Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, as well as the Sultanate of Morocco from the 16th to 19th centuries. The term originates from an exonym for the Berbers.

The French protectorate of Tunisia (French: Protectorat français de Tunisie; Arabic: الحماية الفرنسية في تونس al-ḥimāya al-Fransīya fī Tūnis), officially the Regency of Tunis (French: Régence de Tunis) and commonly referred to as simply French Tunisia, was established in 1881, during the French colonial empire era, and lasted until Tunisian independence in 1956.

The protectorate was established by the Bardo Treaty of 12 May 1881 after a military conquest, despite Italian disapproval. It was part of French North Africa with French Algeria and the Protectorate of Morocco, and more broadly of the French Empire. Tunisian sovereignty was more reduced in 1883, the Bey was only signing the decrees and laws prepared by the Resident General of France in Tunisia. The Tunisian government at the local level remained in place, and was only coordinating between Tunisians and the administrations set up on the model of what existed in France. The Tunisian government's budget was quickly cleaned up, which made it possible to launch multiple infrastructure construction programs (roads, railways, ports, lighthouses, schools, hospitals, etc.) and the reforms that took place during the Beylik era contributed to this, which completely transformed the country above all for the benefit of the settlers, mostly Italians whose numbers were growing rapidly. A whole land legislation was put in place allowing the acquisition or the confiscation of land to create lots of colonization resold to the French colonists.

This is a list of the beys of Tunis who ruled Tunisia from 1613, when the Corsican-origin Muradid dynasty came to power, until 1957, when the Cretan-origin Husainid monarchy was abolished.

The Husainid dynasty or Husaynid dynasty (Arabic: الحسينيون) was a ruling Turkish dynasty of the Beylik of Tunis (present-day Tunisia). The dynasty was of Greek origin from the island of Crete. It came to power under al-Husayn I ibn Ali in 1705, succeeding the Muradid dynasty. The Husainids ruled Tunisia until 1957 before the establishment of the Republic.

The Husainids originally ruled under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman sultans officially regarded them as beylerbeyis (provincial governors) and recognized their rights to hereditary succession. Their succession to the throne was in theory determined by male primogeniture, but this was not always followed and, especially in later periods, the throne was often granted to an older male family member along the collateral branches of the family. The heir apparent to the Bey held the title Bey al-Mahalla and led the mahalla, a biannual tax collection expedition around the country.