Question: Near what sea were the Barbary States located?

Context paragraphs:
Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico (Spanish for "Rich Port"), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Spanish: Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico , "Free Associated State of Puerto Rico") and briefly called Porto Rico, is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeast Caribbean Sea.

Derna, Libya: Derna ( ; Arabic: درنة‎ ‎ "Darnah ") is a port city in eastern Libya.  It has a population of 100,000–150,000.  It was the seat of one of the wealthiest provinces in the Barbary States, and remains the capital of the Derna District, with a much smaller area.  Derna has a unique environment among Libyan cities, as it lies between green mountains, the Mediterranean Sea, and the desert.  The city is also home to people of mixed origins.

Barbary Wars: The Barbary Wars were a series of conflicts that culminated in two wars fought at different times over the same reasons between the United States, Sweden, and the Barbary states (the "de jure" possessions of the Ottoman Empire, but "de facto" independent, Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli) of North Africa in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  The Swedes had been at war with the Tripolitans since 1800; they were eventually joined by the Americans.  At issue was the Barbary pirates' demand for tribute from American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean Sea.  If ships of a given country failed to pay, pirates would attack the ship and take their goods, and often enslave crew members or hold them for ransom.  When Thomas Jefferson became President of the United States in March 1801, he refused to pay tribute and sent a United States Naval fleet to the Mediterranean; the fleet bombarded various fortified pirate cities in present-day Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria, ultimately extracting concessions of fair passage from their rulers.  James Madison, Jefferson's successor, directed military forces for the second war in 1815, shortly after the conclusion of the War of 1812 against the British.

Barbary treaties: The Barbary Treaties refer to several treaties between the United States of America and the semi-autonomous North African city-states of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, known collectively as the Barbary States.

List of companies of Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeast Caribbean Sea.  It is an archipelago that includes the main island of Puerto Rico and a number of smaller ones such as Mona, Culebra, and Vieques.  The capital and most populous city is San Juan.  Its official languages are Spanish and English, though Spanish predominates.  The island's population is approximately 3.4 million.

Emerado, North Dakota: Emerado is a city in Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States located near Grand Forks Air Force Base.  It is part of the "Grand Forks, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area" or "Greater Grand Forks".  The population was 414 at the 2010 census.  Grand Forks Air Force Base is located near Emerado.

NBC Tower: The NBC Tower is an office tower on the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States located at 454 North Columbus Drive (455 North Cityfront Plaza is also used as a vanity address for the building) in downtown Chicago's Magnificent Mile area.  Completed in 1989, the 37-story building reaches a height of 627 feet (191 m).  NBC's Chicago offices, studios, and owned-and-operated station WMAQ-TV are located here as of 1989 and on October 1, 1989, WMAQ-TV broadcast their first newscast at 10 pm that evening at their new home, NBC Tower with the then-weeknight news team of Ron Magers, Carol Marin, John Coleman and Mark Giangreco.  Later, Telemundo O&O WSNS-TV since their 2002 purchase by NBC.  Formerly its former radio sister WMAQ/WSCR was located here.  The studios of NBC's former Chicago FM property, WKQX and its sister station WLUP are located in the NBC Tower.

Algiers: Algiers (Arabic: الجزائر ‎ ‎ , "al-Jazā’er"; Algerian Arabic pronunciation: دزاير Dzayer, Berber: , French: "Alger" ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria.  In 2011, the city's population was estimated to be around 3,500,000.  An estimate puts the population of the larger metropolitan city to be around 5,000,000.  Algiers is located on the Mediterranean Sea and in the north-central portion of Algeria.

John Rodgers (1772–1838): John Rodgers (July 11, 1772 – August 1, 1838) was a senior naval officer in the United States Navy who served under six Presidents for nearly four decades during its formative years in the 1790s through the late 1830s, committing the bulk of his adult life to his country.  His service took him through many operations in the Quasi-War with France, both Barbary Wars in North Africa and the War of 1812 with Britain.  As a senior officer in the young American navy he played a major role in the development of the standards, customs and traditions that emerged during this time.  Rodgers was, among other things, noted for commanding the largest American squadron in his day to sail the Mediterranean Sea.  After serving with distinction as a lieutenant he was soon promoted directly to the rank of captain (the rank of Master Commandant did not exist at that time).  During his naval career he commanded a number of warships, including the USS "John Adams", the flagship of the fleet that defeated the Barbary states of North Africa.  During the War of 1812 Rodgers fired the first shot of the war aboard his next flagship, the USS "President", and also played a leading role in the recapture of Washington after the capital was burned by the British, while also having to endure his own hometown and house burned and his family displaced.  Later in his career he headed the Navy Board of Commissioners and served briefly as Secretary of the Navy.  Following in his footsteps, Rodgers' son and several grandsons and great-grandsons also became commodores and admirals in the United States Navy.

Cretan War (1645–1669): The Cretan War (Greek: Κρητικός Πόλεμος , Turkish: "Girit'in Fethi" ) or War of Candia (Italian: "Guerra di Candia" , ), is the name given to the Fifth Ottoman–Venetian War, a conflict between the Republic of Venice and her allies (chief among them the Knights of Malta, the Papal States and France) against the Ottoman Empire and the Barbary States, because it was largely fought over the island of Crete, Venice's largest and richest overseas possession.  The war lasted from 1645 to 1669 and was fought in Crete and in numerous naval engagements and raids around the Aegean Sea, with Dalmatia providing a secondary theater of operations.

Supporting paragraphs: Barbary treaties Algiers
Answer: Mediterranean Sea