Pirate+History

Pirate History

Early Pirates Most of the early pirates lived in the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. These sea robbers were so powerful that they set up a pirate nation in Cilicia. The only thing is that Pompey the great sent a fleet of 270 ships and drove the bandits away. For the next thousand years there were thieves called Barbary corsairs that salled out of African portsto molest shipping. In the 16th century the corsairs established a pirate empire. This empire was called the Barbary States. They controlled all the northern countries of Africa. All these pirate empires were supported by selling Christians into slavery and then they would get protection money by taking heavy tribute. Raises, aka Kings, commanded the Barbary pirate cruisers. The Raises were the ones who ruled the African states. The Raises had rivals that were called renegados. Renegados were the ones who later became the leaders of the Turks.



Pompey the Great The Roman Empire was such a dominant empire that its power expanded even more to claim all of the Mediterranean basin and the places where the pirates sailed. Rome made piracy be eradicated from the ancient world for the time being since they were so powerful. Pompey the great was the one sent to wrest the seas from the pirates. In a short time, Pompey and an army of 120,000 soldiers swept the Mediterranean Sea and coralled the pirates along the shore. Pompey then started to wipe out even more pirates in the Mediterranean Sea. Pompey was the only person to have a lot of success in combat against pirates.

Buccaneers During the 17th century there was a type of pirate called a buccaneer that terrorized sailors in the West Indies. Buccaneers were usually French, Dutch, and English sailors, most of them fled their countries to escape the law. Then they settled in Haiti and learned a meat method called buccaning. Thus their names became known as the Buccaneers. Also, during that time the Spanish controlled the Carribean area. The most famous buccaneer was Sir Henry Morgan. He came to the West Indies at a young age. Under Moragan as the King the buccaneers plundered Cuba, Panama, and Venezuela. His greates victory was the sacking of Panama City in 1671.

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