Pirates

Pirate is now the frequently established expression throughout the world for an individual that perpetrates an assortment of wrongs on the ocean. A various points in history they were given specialized names helping to identify them either by region or nationality.

Privateers would have been pirates legally commissioned by a country or government giving them permission to wage war against another country or government. The French and English pirates that were living in the Caribbean about the time of the seventeenth century went by the name, buccaneer. Of course the name buccaneer is a very anglicized version of the French word, boucanier.

A Barbary corsair was a name given by the French to Muslim pirates that sailed along the North African and Mediterranean coasts.

In the rich waters of the Mediterranean area where vigorous sea trading was taking place, pirating came to develop and be very effective. The nations and kingdoms warring amongst themselves would set pirates against their foes. To collect taxes from the locals the city-states of Greece gave pirates the job as tax collector because the pirates were so feared.

France, Spain and England fought back and forth with each other many times through the years with pirates and privateers playing huge roles in the outcomes of battles and wars. Pirates could often prove so successful as to bring an entire navy to its knees or to steal government treasure or disrupt trade so badly as to bankrupt a country.

Many times though countries or governments would ban together to help each other rid themselves of pirate infestations.

Buccaneers would run to the sea and a life of piracy in an attempt to break away from their cruel handling from former countries. This led to pirates creating what is known to be the first true individual democracy where every person on the boat had a vote in all activities. To enforce their own code the pirates dealt out harsh penalties to those that would violate shipboard laws.

Pirates took care of their own like no other governing body had done before. Around the time in the early to mid 1600's pirates begin to establish various payments as compensation for body parts lost in the line of duty.

Piracy could be a hard life, dangerous and deadly but it was often preferable to the navy of the day. You could potentially get better pay, better food be treated better and have a say in decisions.

A pirate could be paid large sums of money following a victorious raid. The treasure would be divided and the goods sold for money and then split appropriately. This of course was always done in a port city that gave the pirate opportunity to turn around and spend all his money in a few nights of drink, women and gambling.

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