The history of piracy can be traced as far back as the 13th century B.C.E. to sea-faring marauders in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas and extends all the way to current times as pirates still navigate parts of the globe threatening commercial vessels. The Greek historian Plutarch, writing in about 100 A.D., defined pirates as those who attack maritime cities and ships without legal authority.

Contemporary lore and reference to pirates, though, tends to center on piracy in the Caribbean Sea between the mid-16th century through the mid-18th century. This classic period of piracy yielded the famous legends of the English, Dutch, and French pirates and branded names such as Blackbeard and Henry Morgan. Pirates were essentially bands of sea-faring thieves who would attack merchant vessels, and reap whatever riches and resources they could from them. In the case of Caribbean pirates their targets were mostly Spanish ships. Pirates acted for their own interests, and succeeded on the merits of their own organization and strategic ploys. They typically did not act with any authority from sovereign states although during wartime could have been given rights to act on behalf of states in privateering arrangements.

Pirate raids would follow the trade routes from India to America via Africa and those ships navigating through the Caribbean would most often fall prey to pirate attacks. The boom in piracy that began in the 1580s paralleled the tremendous increase in trade and travel that grew out of the expeditions of the Spanish, Portuguese, British, and Dutch explorers and their succeeding colonial endeavors. As trade expanded to include the new colonies, the shipping routes along the Eastern seaboard of America and parts of the Indian Ocean and the west coast of Africa were often targeted by marauding pirates.

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Pirates would set themselves up on base islands in the Caribbean and coordinate their attacks from these strategic points. The pirates practiced a form of democracy on board their ships and elected their captains based on that individual’s successful performance and adeptness in battle. The captain would be partnered in leadership with the quartermaster who was in charge of administration of the ship. Pirates lived an alternative lifestyle to their land-based or legitimate sea-faring rivals, choosing the ocean as their source of income, sustenance,

and protection. All foods, commodities, livestock, or riches they acquired from other vessels would be split among the pirates in a comparatively fair and democratic manner.

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