Pirates

“Sea Thieves.”
Starting in XVI century piracy was gaining in popularity.Colonial expansion was
beginning with all the shipping it created carrying gold and other goods.
English privateers could for instance attack and rob, Spanish shipping.
On the other hand North African pirates had a license to rob
English ships and Madagascar pirates of the XVIII century represented French
king’s interests. The continually, since ancient times, notorious was so called
Barbary Coast .From the 1500s to the 1800s the coast was occupied by
independent Islamic states under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire.
In the early 1500s, these states became centers for pirates. Captains, who formed
a class in Algiers and Tunis, commanded cruisers outfitted by wealthy backers,
who then received 10 percent of the value
After the American Revolution (1775-1783), the United States agreed
to pay money for immunity from attack, but it later attacked several Barbary
states and helped end the Piracy. During the remainder of the 1800s and in
the early 1900s, European nations gained sovereignty over the Barbary Coast.

Do not confuse Pirates with buckiners. Buckiners worked for their counties. Pirates
who attacked ships of all nations.
A pirate became captain of a ship if he was elected by the crew. The captain was
only in command of the ship either when attacking another ship or when another
ship attacked them. He worked as a regular crew member when the ship was
not in battle. If the captain would not attack other ships and take booty, then
he was removed as captain. The quartermaster actually had more power than
the captain of the ship. He was also elected by the crew. The quartermaster was
responsible for dividing the loot evenly between crewmembers, watching over
prisoners until the crew could decide what to do with them, and to punish pirates
who broke rules. All pirates sailed with the understanding that if they didn't help
attack ships and colonies, then they would receive no pay. If they continued to refuse
to attack they would be put off of the ship in a foreign land. Most pirates did
not kill people because they were only interested in the loot. Pirate crews followed
a set of rules called the Code of Conduct.
Blackbeard was the first pirate to call his flag the Jolly Roger. One of his ships
was called the Jolly Roger and he named his flag after it. All other pirates began
to call their ship's flag the Jolly Roger. The Jolly Roger was usually a scary sight.
It was designed to scare any ship that it was attacking into surrendering without a battle.

During XVII and XVIII centuries piracy has peaked and many infamous
pirates were operating at that time . well know names such as, Blackbeard, Morgan,
Lafitte, and William Kidd come to mind
By the end of the 17th century, with the growth of a strong central power in
Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867) and in China under the Ch'ing
dynasty, most of the piracy was eliminated. the most successful pirate and richest ever was a woman,
Ching Yih Saoa, the widow of dread Chinese pirate Ching Yih

Here are the players who helped build this quilt


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References I used

Adventures at Sea in the Great Age of Sail
The Pirates of the New England Coast 1630-1730
Jolly Roger: The Story of the Great Age of Piracy
The Pirates of New Spain
Privateers & Pirates 1730-1830
Pirates: Terror On The High Seas
National Geographic Internet site, pirates