| A History of Pirates |
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| Written by John Petkus | ||||
| Friday, 28 September 2007 | ||||
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Ever since the first human threw a stick into a mud puddle and noticed that it could float, on that mysterious substance, mankind has used water as a means of transportation. Goods transported down stream to on boats made of reeds made the building of the Great Pyramid in Egypt a possibility, the stones for the Roman temples and indeed many of the ancient buildings from ancient world were transported in this way. Grain and other goods such as wool, dye, weapons, horses and even slaves could be traded to peoples half a world away and returned for profit and strange new things. As long as mankind has been depending on the sea for transport of goods however, others have sought to make their own living by pillaging those loads becoming pirates.
The first recorded incidents of piracy can be claimed by the same people group that boasts of bringing us much Western philosophy and the alphabet, the Greeks. Grecian pirates raided shipping traveling in the Aegean sea for hundreds of years before Christ was born, capturing goods and taking prisoners for ransom. In Roman times Julius Caesar was captured by pirates while he was traveling in the Mediterranean Sea, and held for ransom. At the time of his release he who one day would rule the Western world, swore to return and kill every one of them. This promise he fulfilled to the letter as the Roman navy began to systematically cleanse the Mediterranean, killing every pirate they found usually by crucifixion. Over all however the Romans were unsuccessful in completely stamping pirates out completely and pirate raids consisting of hundreds of ships were not an uncommon sight. The Middle Ages saw piracy as a way of life for some nations including the Norse Viking raiders from regions of Scandinavia and in the later part of the period, the Arab states in the northern regions of Africa. The Vikings raided throughout much of Europe, conquering and pillaging as they went along. They, unlike their forbears in pirating, were not so interested in attacking shipping per se, but rather conquering lands which could be used to grow food and serfs to work the land. Alfred the Great, the Saxon King of England barely stopped the Viking invaders from completely over running his island kingdom, and making peace with them and allowing both nations to live in relative peace. A few hundred years later, the Viking descendent William the Conqueror finished the job. The Golden Age of Piracy, however, did not begin until the “New World” as it is called was discovered. The huge opportunities for gaining wealth quickly were a magnet for piracy of every kind. Spanish galleons filled with the riches of Peru and Mexico, were prime targets for the privateers of England and the Netherlands and to a lesser extent France. These privateers joined the ranks of pirates when they were unanimously outlawed by the four nations, and decided to go rogue verses the same people they were fighting before, the Spanish. Such famed pirates as Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, and Ann Boney, came out of this era. Piracy did not end in that era however. Even today there are pirate attacks especially in South Pacific around Indonesia and the New Guinea. However pirate attacks are on the decline around the world with only 239 incidents reported last year. This is a very good thing as these pirates are essentially attacking and seizing merchant shipping. Piracy has become almost an extension of human society where as long as we have ships on the sea, there will remain pirates.  Add as favourites (0)
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