![]() Under Morgan the buccaneers plundered Puerto Prìncipe (now Camagüey, Cuba), Portobelo (Panama), and settlements around Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela). Operating with the unofficial support of the English government, he undermined Spanish authority in the region. ![]() Born in Wales, he went to the West Indies when he was a young man. One of the most successful buccaneers was Henry Morgan. Late in the century many buccaneers became legitimate privateers in the service of their respective countries, and buccaneering came to an end.Ĭourtesy of the trustees of the British Museum photograph, J.R. On the return voyage, they transported colonial products, especially gold and silver, back to Spain. In addition, Spanish ships were tempting to rob because they were filled with European goods traveling to the Spanish colonies in the Americas. The buccaneers focused on Spanish possessions because their countries were at war with Spain. They attacked Spanish ships and settlements on land, oftentimes under the direction of Caribbean governors. The buccaneers formed a loose-knit organization known as the Brethren of the Coast. Many islands and harbors there made perfect hiding places. Buccaneers were English, French, or Dutch sea adventurers who haunted chiefly the Caribbean and the Pacific seaboard of South America. In the middle of the 17th century a special kind of pirate called a buccaneer appeared. Captain Kidd became celebrated in English literature as one of the most colorful outlaws of all time. He began his sea career as a legitimate privateer for Great Britain against the French in the West Indies and off the coast of North America. Captain Kidd was another famous privateer in the 17th century. This meant they had permission to attack ships of other countries, especially Spain, though no war was in progress. In the 1500s Elizabeth I queen of England, made privateers of her best sailors, including John Hawkins, Walter Raleigh, and Francis Drake. The pirate governments were supported by selling Christians into slavery and by taking heavy tribute as protection money from other countries. By the 16th century they had established a pirate empire, the Barbary States, in the countries of northern Africa. They were called Barbary pirates, or corsairs. Soon Muslim pirates sailed out of African ports to molest shipping. However, piracy would return to the region within a few hundred years. Roman statesman Pompey the Great sent a fleet of ships against the pirates, driving them from the Mediterranean in the first century BC. Eventually, however, the pirates began to threaten the availability of Roman food supplies. Therefore, attempts to defeat the pirates were weak and sporadic. Pirates were considered useful because aristocrats sometimes negotiated with them to buy captives as slaves. They became so powerful that they set up a pirate nation in Cilicia (now part of Turkey). ![]() The First PiratesĮncyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Kenny Chmielewski and Patrick O'Neill Rileyĭuring the early days of ancient Greece and Rome, pirates plagued the Aegean and the Mediterranean seas. Nevertheless, the actual adventures of these people often changed the course of history. The pirates existed, but the stories are mostly imagined. The stories are a mix of fact and fiction. These tell of lives of adventure, romance, and buried treasure. Many of the ideas that people have about pirates have come from books and movies. Those who did disguised themselves as men in order to join the crew. It was considered bad luck for women to be on ships, so very few became pirates. The overwhelming majority of pirates were men. On the ship pirates flew the Jolly Roger, a flag that incorporated some sort of a skeleton, such as a skull and crossbones. Sometimes pirates released the ship’s passengers and crew, but other times they held them for ransom. Pirates sold the ships that they captured or converted them into pirate ships. Pirates not only stole a ship’s cargo, they also took the ship itself. After attacking with cannon fire, pirates armed with swords and pistols went aboard the other ship, fighting hand-to-hand until the enemy was subdued. That allowed them to attack much larger, better-armed ships. Historical pirates were successful because they used ships that were small and swift.
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