Pirates: Piracy and Golden Age

During the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries, piracy was rampant in the Atlantic, specifically in the West Indies. Piracy has existed since the earliest days of ocean travel, for a range of personal and economic reasons. However, one of the major reasons why piracy was wide spread and rampant in the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries was Great Britain’s endorsement and usage of piracy as an asset; in wars fought in the New World. Great Britain with its expanding power and conflicts with other nations would make piracy a lifestyle and lay down the foundation for the Golden Age of Piracy and eventually bring what it created to a screeching halt.

Pirates were the thieves on the sea that came on the land to steal what ever they saw. When they came to the Caribbean, it was right after war when all regulations were down and not enforced. “As the nation battled law and order broke down entirely; pirates grew bolder… after 1700 the Caribbean became a battleground for the European natives” (Document 8). When the government was recovering around the 1700’s from war, no one regulated trade and many of the Native’s along with the European’s things were stolen. Pirates were very strong and successful in stealing and robbing the Natives, and that is why Pirates made trade a negative affect of the

For years and years the leaders of Tripoli which is located in the Middle East had been taking over merchant ships from either the Americans or the or the Europeans. The Tripoli pirates would take over ships and sell

Under The Black Flag , a book written by David Cordingly expressed the reality and myths behind piracy. He clearly states in the introduction of the book that his aim “is to examine the popular image of pirates today, to find out where this image came from, and to compare it with the real world of the pirates” (Cordingly xiv). Along with his aim his thesis is also stated in the introduction of his book, which essentially states that the views by everyday people of pirates consists of a mixture of facts, and many other things such as romantic novels and films. He successfully informs readers of the history behind many important misconceptions of common beliefs. Although some of the things every person has learned about a pirate growing up may

Most people do not know this but piracy on international waters and on the coast of Somalia has become an increasingly important issue to global businesses. Since most people are unaware of this growing problem it has just now been noticed. To help stop piracy most crews are encouraged to have trained officers aboard while shipping cargo to avoid attacks by pirates. 95 percent of the piracy on international waters is by somali pirates. That’s right 95 percent. Piracy is robbery/stealing at sea. Not a lot of people are aware that piracy occurs almost everyday.

Marcus Rediker’s main point is the Atlantic Pirates were a group of highly intelligent people that unfortunately were forced to a criminal life because it was their only means to Survive. They were intelligent in the reason of choosing to attack the America colonies, but also in the way the pirates made their own governing structure. According to Dr. Rediker “a compact drawn up at the beginning of a voyage or upon election of a new captain, and agreed to by the crew. By these articles crews allocated authority, distributed plunder, and enforced discipline. These arrangements made the captain the creature of his crew”.(Rediker 209). These pirates knew that they had recently escaped a system of oppression that had done them wrong in many ways. This is why they made a system where everyone counted and where everyone got what they deserved. In a way they kept each other on check. An example of this today would be friend making sure another friend doesn’t cheat on his

Authors present similar information in different ways. In the golden age of piracy, despite being disputed when it actually happened. Despite sometimes being worlds apart, the similarities in all these people and their dastardly deeds is incredible. Their paths frequently intersected either through direct contact or other things. Both Rediker and Greene talk about similar situations and people, but they discussed it quite differently. From showcasing the hardships to glorifying their short and fast paced lives, their arguments are as different as night and day, but give us a solid insight into the average life of a pirate in the golden age of piracy.

The geographical area in which piracy took place was mainly the Mediterranean. Barbary piracy became a very threatening thing. There were many Muslim pirates attacked ships, enslaved crews, plundered cargoes and held numerous captives in their respective areas or countries, but it was done by the Muslims, there were even Christians engaged in this event as well. That time they didn’t have many job to live for. since piracy can get wealth very quickly. It kinds to become a culture alone the Barbary Coast. The violence accompanies with many facts, circumstance, history, ideology, the opportunity to strike. It became their job.

Also included in this book is what happened to pirates when they were caught by the government. If convicted of piracy it often meant a sure death by hanging. Many times the bodies of pirates were hung over harbors and around ports as a warning of the consequences of being a pirate. The government hoped that these drastic measures would help quell the raids of pirates. So this book lets us know that even though pirates have a romanticized appearance, in all reality they were criminals who had their own way of life.

As is hopefully apparent by now, the common element of piracy trials throughout the era was the uniform desire to convict harshly regardless of circumstance. All of the ingredients existed for rampant cases of wrongful convictions on par with Kidd and Green, but with the exception of the six fisherman hanged for sharing a drink with John Rackam, they didn’t occur in the vice-Admiralty courts after the Quelch hearings. How is it that pirate hunters always captured the true sea thieves? Or another way of asking the question, where did all the privateers go? Analyzing the answers to these inquiries is crucial to understanding how the evolution of piracy reduced the ambiguity that plagued seventeenth-century piracy trials and eliminated the uncertainty that existed between legal privateers from

Pirates are people we think of living in the eighteenth century, attacking ships in the open seas. One that may come to mind is Blackbeard. The most common definition of pirates is a person who steals or robs at sea. Although it may not seem like it, there are still pirates today such as the Somali pirates.

When the word pirate is mentioned, many people think of ship carrying men across the seas as they pillage other ships. While this is true to some extent there was much more to the lives of the men that were known as pirates. Pirates were mostly men from French, English or Dutch heritage, and were privateers or merchants. Many of these men were sanctioned by their government. By the Spanish they were call piratas or unsanctioned sea-raiders, and would have a heavy influence of trade in the Caribbean and on the Spanish Empire.

The pirate lifestyle was different. Pirates were better treated and had more freedoms and rights than normal sailors.The reason why I choose pirate lifestyle because they had many accurate facts about pirates in the movie such pirates drinking rum, stealing a boat, they were they dress and more. For example, Pirates only had rum to drink when they were on board because they did not have not enough water for the pirates on board. Rum was also easily obtained in the sugarcane rich Caribbean and olden day South Seas Pirates and that's what made rum the drink of choice which was all sown in movies when Elizabeth (Keira Knightley) was trying to escape from the ship of Black Pearl, they showed Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) drinking a bottle rum after capturing Elizabeth. The second reason why I say pirate lifestyle is accurate is that of stealing a ship. At the start of the movie when Jack Sparrow was to be hanged by the British

Piracy in Somalia has come about due to years of internal fighting and weakened government. With the overthrow of the president in 1991, Somalia has been a complete anarchy with only the laws of rival clans who have been in power. Though long before that the country has been in constant war between the people of the country because money and food have been always been scarce. Small amounts of money have been made through some exports but the real money came from the fishing off the coast. Recently because of the lack of laws commercial fisherman from all over the world have been over-fishing the waters and leaving the Somalis with too few fish to survive. European companies have used this lack of laws as a way to easily dump their

Are you concerned about pirate attacks on your ocean voyages? Although it may only seem like a good movie plot, the threat of piracy still exists. Nowadays, pirate incidents are often not covered in mainstream media. One researcher commented on the topic, saying that piracy has “…been romanticized in such films as Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean” (Lunsford, “What Makes Piracy Work?”). Nevertheless, pirates have proved their aggressive behavior through history and their effects on society. Modern and past pirates share similarities and differences, and countries around the world are looking for ways to control the issue before it spreads.