1805 — America's First War Ended

On June 10, 1805, the United States and Tripoli concluded the Treaty of Peace and Amity, ending America's first foreign war. The war had begun when Tripoli demanded tribute from American ships, and America refused, sending its young navy across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean rather than pay for safe passage.

Weeks earlier, an American-backed force marched five hundred miles across the desert to capture the Libyan port of Derna, the first time the United States flag was raised in victory on foreign soil. The treaty closed the war, but Derna remained its enduring image: a young republic projecting power onto Africa's northern shore.