:Berberia redirects here. For the butterfly genus, see Berberia (genus).

The Barbary Coast, or Barbary, was the term used by Europeans from the 16th until the 19th century to refer to the coastal regions of what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. The name is derived from the Berber people of north Africa. In the West, the name commonly evokes the Barbary pirates and slave traders, based on that coast, who attacked shipping coastal settlements in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic and captured and traded slaves from Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.

"Barbary" was almost never a unified political entity. From the sixteenth century onwards, it was divided into the familiar political entities of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripolitania (Tripoli). Major rulers during the heyday of the barbary states were the Pasha or Dey of Algiers, the Bey of Tunis and the Bey of Tripoli, all nominally subjects of the Ottoman sultan, but de facto independent rulers. Before then it was usually divided between Ifriqiya, Morocco, and a west-central Algerian state centered on Tlemcen or Tiaret, although powerful dynasties such as the Almohads, and briefly the Hafsids, occasionally unified it for short periods. From a European perspective its "capital" or chief city was often considered to be Tripoli, in modern-day Libya, although Algiers, in Algeria, and Tangiers, in Morocco, were also sometimes seen as its "capital" by Europeans of the era.

The first United States military action overseas, executed by the U.S. Marines and Navy, was the Battle of Derne, Tripoli, in 1805, in an effort to bolster diplomatic efforts in securing the freedom of American prisoners and putting an end to piracy on the part of the Barbary states. The opening line of the Marine's Hymn refers to this action:

Barbary Coast was a TV movie and short-lived (13-episode) series on the American network ABC that featured the adventures of 19th century government agent Jeff Cable (played by William Shatner), and his pal, conman and gambler Cash Conover (Doug McClure). The movie first aired on May 4, 1975. The series premiered September 8, 1975; the last episode aired January 9, 1976. This was Shatner's first attempt at a live-action series since Star Trek (also produced by Paramount Television). While on the college lecture circuit in the late 1970's, he said the show "lasted about five minutes."

The show was inspired by a similar 19th century spy series, The Wild Wild West, and like the earlier program, Barbary Coast mixed the genres of western and secret agent drama.

In their battle against various criminals and foreign spies, Cable and Conover operated out of the latter's saloon and casino located on San Francisco's notorious Barbary Coast. Cable frequently donned outré disguises in the course of his investigations, a la Wild Wild West's Artemis Gordon, and the writers worked hard trying to create a James West/Artemis Gordon-type friendship/partnership in the Cable/Conover pairing, but there simply wasn't the same chemistry. The producers also undisguisedly modeled the show's byzantine plotlines/conspiracies on the Mission: Impossible paradigm (in fact, they hired a number of Mission: Impossible's writers), but again failed to coax lightning into striking twice. Other regulars on the series included recurring Wild Wild West villain actor Richard Kiel as Moose Moran and Dave Turner as Thumbs.

Barbary Coast (released in 1935) is a period film directed by Howard Hawks. Shot in black-and-white and set in San Francisco during the Gold Rush era, the film combines elements of crime, Western, melodrama and adventure genres, features a wide range of actors, from good-guy Joel McCrea to bad-boy Edward G. Robinson, and stars Miriam Hopkins in the leading role as Mary 'Swan' Rutledge.

19th-century government agent and master of disguise Jeff Cable operates out of a secret room in a San Francisco casino owned by his best pal Cash Conover. Conover is sort of a dandy, and would rather avoid trouble at all costs, but Cable's persuasiveness coupled with Cash's sense of duty and a weakness for the fairer sex shared by both men usually leads them into dangerous missions. Written by Marty McKee

alking about Cash Conover] ff Cable: No one knows if that's his name or his religion.

Mary Rutledge arrives from the east, finds her fiance dead, and goes to work at the roulette wheel of Louis Charnalis' Bella Donna, a rowdy gambling house in San Francisco in the 1850s. She falls in love with miner Carmichael and takes his gold dust at the wheel. She goes after him, Louis goes after her with intent to harm Carmichael. Written by Ed Stephan