Golden Age of Piracy
Encyclopedia
The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation given to one or more outbursts of piracy
in maritime history
of the early modern period
. In its broadest accepted definition, the Golden Age of Piracy spans from the 1650s to the 1730s and covers three separate outbursts of piracy:
Narrower definitions of the Golden Age sometimes exclude the first or second periods, but most include at least some portion of the third. The modern conception of pirates as depicted in popular culture is derived largely, though not always accurately, from the Golden Age of Piracy.
Factors contributing to piracy during the Golden Age included the rise in quantities of valuable cargoes being shipped to Europe over vast ocean areas, reduced European navies in certain regions, the training and experience that many sailors had gained in European navies (particularly the Royal Navy
), and ineffective government in European overseas colonies. The colonial powers at the time constantly fought with pirates and engaged in several notable battles and other related events.
's A New and Exact History of Jamaica, then over 150 years old, and refers mostly to such 1660s events as Henry Morgan
's attacks on Maracaibo and Portobelo and Bartolomeu Português
's famous escape. Powell uses the phrase only once.
In 1897, a more systematic use of the phrase "Golden Age of Piracy" was introduced by historian John Fiske, who wrote: "At no other time in the world's history has the business of piracy thriven so greatly as in the seventeenth century and the first part of the eighteenth. Its golden age may be said to have extended from about 1650 to about 1720." Fiske included the activities of the Barbary corsairs, and East Asian pirates in this "Golden Age," noting that "as these Mussulman pirates and those of Eastern Asia were as busily at work in the seventeenth century as at any other time, their case does not impair my statement that the age of the buccaneers was the Golden Age of piracy." Fiske does not cite Powell or any other source for the concept of a "Golden Age."
Pirate historians of the first half of the 20th century occasionally adopted Fiske's term "Golden Age," without necessarily following his beginning and ending dates for it. The most expansive definition of an age of piracy was that of Patrick Pringle, who wrote in 1951 that "the most flourishing era in the history of piracy . . . began in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and ended in the second decade of the eighteenth century." This idea starkly contradicted Fiske, who had hotly denied that such Elizabethan figures as Drake were pirates.
Perhaps the ultimate step in restricting the Golden Age was in Konstam's 2005 The History of Pirates, in which he retreated from his own earlier definition, called a 1690–1730 definition of the Golden Age "generous," and concluded that "The worst of these pirate excesses was limited to an eight-year period, from 1714 until 1722, so the true Golden Age cannot even be called a 'golden decade.'"
Rediker, in 2004, described the most complex definition of the Golden Age to date. He proposes a "golden age of piracy, which spanned the period from roughly 1650 to 1730," which he subdivides into three distinct "generations": the buccaneers of 1650-80, the Indian Ocean pirates of the 1690s, and the pirates of the years 1716–1726.
Rediker's is probably the most current academic definition of the Golden Age. The popular definition can only be called confused.
allowed European countries to resume the development of their colonial empires. This involved considerable seaborne trade, and a general economic improvement: there was money to be made—or stolen—and much of it traveled by ship.
French buccaneers had established themselves on northern Hispaniola
as early as 1625, but lived at first mostly as hunters rather than robbers; their transition to full-time piracy was gradual and motivated in part by Spanish efforts to wipe out both the buccaneers and the prey animals on which they depended. The buccaneers' migration from Hispaniola's mainland to the more defensible offshore island of Tortuga limited their resources and accelerated their piratical raids. According to Alexandre Exquemelin
, a buccaneer and historian who remains a major source on this period, the Tortuga buccaneer Pierre Le Grand
pioneered the settlers' attacks on galleons making the return voyage to Spain.
The growth of buccaneering on Tortuga was augmented by the English capture of Jamaica from Spain in 1655. The early English governors of Jamaica freely granted letters of marque to Tortuga buccaneers and to their own countrymen, while the growth of Port Royal provided these raiders with a far more profitable and enjoyable place to sell their booty. In the 1660s, the new French governor of Tortuga, Bertrand d'Ogeron, similarly provided privateering commissions both to his own colonists and to English cutthroats from Port Royal. These conditions brought Caribbean buccaneering to its zenith.
further reduced the Caribbean's attractions by destroying the pirates' chief market for fenced plunder. Caribbean colonial governors began to discard the traditional policy of "no peace beyond the Line," under which it was understood that war would continue (and thus letters of marque would be granted) in the Caribbean regardless of peace treaties signed in Europe; henceforth, commissions would be granted only in wartime, and their limitations would be strictly enforced. Furthermore, much of the Spanish Main had simply been exhausted; Maracaibo
alone had been sacked three times between 1667 and 1678, while Río de la Hacha had been raided five times and Tolú
eight.
At the same time, England's less favored colonies, including Bermuda, New York, and Rhode Island, had become cash-starved by the Navigation Acts. Merchants and governors eager for coin were willing to overlook and even underwrite pirate voyages; one colonial official defended a pirate because he thought it "very harsh to hang people that brings in gold to these provinces." Although some of these pirates operating out of New England and the Middle Colonies targeted Spain's remoter Pacific coast colonies well into the 1690s and beyond, the Indian Ocean was a richer and more tempting target. India's economic output dwarfed Europe's during this time, especially in high-value luxury goods like silk and calico which made ideal pirate booty; at the same time, no powerful navies plied the Indian Ocean, leaving both local shipping and the various East India companies' vessels vulnerable to attack. This set the stage for the famous piracies of Thomas Tew
, Henry Every
, Robert Culliford
and (although his guilt remains controversial) William Kidd
.
(also called 'Queen Anne's War
'). With the end of this conflict, thousands of seamen, including Britain's paramilitary
privateer
s, were relieved of military duty. The result was a large number of trained, idle sailors at a time when the cross-Atlantic colonial shipping trade was beginning to boom. In addition, Europeans who had been pushed by unemployment to become sailors and soldiers involved in slaving were often enthusiastic to abandon that profession and turn to pirating, giving pirate captains for many years a constant pool of trained European recruits to be found in west African waters and coasts.
In 1715, pirates launched a major raid on Spanish divers trying to recover gold from a sunken treasure galleon near Florida. The nucleus of the pirate force was a group of English ex-privateers, all of whom would soon be enshrined in infamy: Henry Jennings
, Charles Vane
, Samuel Bellamy
, and Edward England
. The attack was successful, but contrary to their expectations, the governor of Jamaica refused to allow Jennings and their cohorts to spend their loot on his island. With Kingston and the declining Port Royal closed to them, Jennings and his comrades founded a new pirate base at Nassau
, on the island of New Providence
in the Bahamas, which had been abandoned during the war. Until the arrival of governor Woodes Rogers
three years later, Nassau would be home for these pirates and their many recruits.
Shipping traffic between Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe began to soar in the 18th century, a model that was known as triangular trade
, and was a rich target for piracy. Trade ships sailed from Europe to the African coast, trading manufactured goods and weapons for slaves. The traders would then sail to the Caribbean to sell the slaves, and return to Europe with goods such as sugar, tobacco and cocoa. Another triangular trade saw ships carry raw materials, preserved cod, and rum to Europe, where a portion of the cargo would be sold for manufactured goods, which (along with the remainder of the original load) were transported to the Caribbean, where they were exchanged for sugar and molasses, which (with some manufactured articles) were borne to New England. Ships in the triangular trade made money at each stop.
As part of the war's settlement, Britain
obtained the asiento
, a Spanish government contract, to supply slaves to Spain's new world colonies, providing British traders and smugglers more access to the traditionally closed Spanish markets in America. This arrangement also contributed heavily to the spread of piracy across the western Atlantic at this time. Shipping to the colonies boomed simultaneously with the flood of skilled mariners after the war. Merchant shippers used the surplus of sailors' labor to drive wages down, cutting corners to maximize their profits, and creating unsavory conditions aboard their vessels. Merchant sailors suffered from mortality rates as high or higher than the slaves being transported (Rediker, 2004). Living conditions were so poor that many sailors began to prefer a freer existence as a pirate. The increased volume of shipping traffic also could sustain a large body of brigands preying upon it.
Many of the most well known pirates in historical lore originate from this Golden Age of Piracy.
(also sometimes spelled Bonney) and Mary Read
.
Bonny grew up ferocious, and, unable to leave an earlier marriage, eloped with Rackham, with whom she was in love. Mary Read had been dressed as a boy all her life by her mother, and had spent time in the British military. She came to the West Indies (Caribbean) after the death of her husband, and fell in with Calico Jack and Anne Bonny.
When their ship was assaulted, the two women were the only ones that defended it. The other crew members were too drunk to fight. In the end they were captured and arrested.
After their capture, both women stalled their death sentences (the punishment for piracy) by claiming to be pregnant. Read died in jail, many believe of a fever or complications of childbirth. Bonny disappears from the record entirely.
The Barbary pirates were pirates and privateers that operated from the North Africa
n (the "Barbary coast
") ports of Tunis
, Tripoli
, Algiers
, Salé
and ports in Morocco
, preying on shipping in the western Mediterranean Sea
from the time of the Crusades
as well as on ships on their way to Asia around Africa until the early 19th century. The coastal villages and towns of Italy
, Spain
and Mediterranean islands were frequently attacked by them and long stretches of the Italian and Spanish coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants; since the 17th century, Barbary pirates occasionally entered the Atlantic and struck as far north as Iceland
. According to Robert Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in the Arab world
between the 16th and 19th centuries.
The early 17th century may be described as the flowering time of the Barbary pirates. This is because the introduction of new sailing rigs by Simon de Danser enabled the North African raiders, for the first time, to brave the Atlantic as well as Mediterranean waters. More than 20,000 captives were said to be imprisoned in Algiers alone. The rich were allowed to redeem themselves, but the poor were condemned to slavery. Their masters would on occasion allow them to secure freedom by professing Islam
. A long list might be given of people of good social position, not only Italians or Spaniards, but also German and English travelers in the south, who were captives for a time.
Iceland
was subject to raids known as the Turkish Abductions
in 1627. Murat Reis (Jan Janszoon
) is said to have taken 400 prisoners; 242 of the captives later were sold into slavery on the Barbary Coast
. The pirates took only young people and those in good physical condition. All those offering resistance were killed, and the old people were gathered into a church which was set on fire. Among those captured was Ólafur Egilsson
, who was ransomed the next year and, upon returning to Iceland, wrote a slave narrative
about his experience. Another famous captive from that raid was Guðríður Símonardóttir
. The sack of Vestmannaeyjar is known in the history of Iceland
as Tyrkjaránið.
One of the stereotypical features of a pirate in popular culture, the eye patch
, dates back to the Arab
pirate Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah, who wore it after losing an eye in battle in the 18th century.
While the Golden Age of European and American pirates is generally considered to have ended between 1710 and 1730, the prosperity of the Barbary pirates continued until the early 19th century. Unlike the European powers, the young United States refused to pay tribute to the Barbary states, and responded with naval attacks
against North Africa when the Barbary pirates captured and enslaved American sailors. Although the U.S. met with only limited success in these wars, France and Great Britain with their more powerful navies soon followed suit and stamped out the Barbary raiders.
The events of the latter half of 1718 represent a turning point in the history of piracy in the New World. Without a safe base and in the growing pressure from naval forces, the rovers lost their momentum. The lure of the Spanish treasures had faded, and the hunters gradually became the hunted. By early 1719, the remaining pirates were on the run. Most of them headed for West Africa, seizing poorly defended slavers.
of the Golden Age of Piracy can hardly be overstated. A General History of the Pyrates
by Charles Johnson, is the prime source for the biographies of many well known pirates of the Golden Age, providing an extensive account of the period. In giving an almost mythical status to the more colorful characters such as the notorious English pirates Blackbeard
and Calico Jack
, the book provided the standard account of the lives of many pirates in the Golden Age, and influenced pirate literature of Robert Louis Stevenson
and J. M. Barrie
. Such literary works as Treasure Island
and Peter Pan
, while romanticized, drew heavily on pirates and piracy for their plots. Movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean
, Anime such as One Piece
and video games such as the Monkey Island series drew heavily from this romanticized ideal of piracy. In turn, they helped implant an (often inaccurate) image of old-time pirates in contemporary minds.
More recently, even less accurate depictions of historical-era pirates (e.g., Talk Like a Pirate Day) have advanced to the forefront. However, these phenomena have only served to advance the romantic image of piracy and its treasure-burying swashbucklers in popular culture.
Piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
in maritime history
Maritime history
Maritime history is the study of human activity at sea. It covers a broad thematic element of history that often uses a global approach, although national and regional histories remain predominant...
of the early modern period
Early modern period
In history, the early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages. Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate, the timeframe spans the period after the late portion of the Middle Ages through the beginning of the Age of Revolutions...
. In its broadest accepted definition, the Golden Age of Piracy spans from the 1650s to the 1730s and covers three separate outbursts of piracy:
- the buccaneering period of approximately 1650 to 1680, characterized by Anglo-French seamen based on JamaicaJamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
and Tortuga attacking Spanish colonies and shipping in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, - the Pirate RoundPirate RoundThe Pirate Round was a sailing route followed by certain Anglo-American pirates, mainly during the late 17th century. The course led from the western Atlantic, around the southern tip of Africa, stopping at Madagascar, then on to targets such as the coast of Yemen and India. The Pirate Round was...
of the 1690s, associated with long-distance voyages from BermudaBermudaBermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
and the Americas to rob Muslim and East India Company targets in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea, and - the post-Spanish Succession period, defined by Marcus RedikerMarcus RedikerMarcus Rediker is an American professor, historian, writer, and activist for a variety of peace and social justice causes. He graduated with a B.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1976 and attended the University of Pennsylvania for graduate study, earning an M.A. and Ph.D. in history...
as extending from 1716 to 1726, when Anglo-American sailors and privateers left unemployed by the end of the War of the Spanish SuccessionWar of the Spanish SuccessionThe War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
turned en masse to piracy in the Caribbean, the American eastern seaboard, the West African coast, and the Indian Ocean.
Narrower definitions of the Golden Age sometimes exclude the first or second periods, but most include at least some portion of the third. The modern conception of pirates as depicted in popular culture is derived largely, though not always accurately, from the Golden Age of Piracy.
Factors contributing to piracy during the Golden Age included the rise in quantities of valuable cargoes being shipped to Europe over vast ocean areas, reduced European navies in certain regions, the training and experience that many sailors had gained in European navies (particularly the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
), and ineffective government in European overseas colonies. The colonial powers at the time constantly fought with pirates and engaged in several notable battles and other related events.
Historiography
The term "Golden Age of Piracy" is an invention of historians, and was never used by anyone who lived through the period that the name denotes.Origin
The oldest known literary mention of a "golden age" of piracy is from 1894, when English journalist George Powell wrote about "what appears to have been the golden age of piracy up to the last decade of the seventeenth century." Powell uses the phrase while reviewing Charles LeslieCharles Leslie (writer)
Charles Leslie was a Barbadian writer who wrote about the history of Jamaica.Leslie was married to Rebecca Tirres on 20 July 1710, Saint Philip, Barbados.His book, A New and Exact History of Jamaica was published in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1739....
's A New and Exact History of Jamaica, then over 150 years old, and refers mostly to such 1660s events as Henry Morgan
Henry Morgan
Admiral Sir Henry Morgan was an Admiral of the Royal Navy, a privateer, and a pirate who made a name for himself during activities in the Caribbean, primarily raiding Spanish settlements...
's attacks on Maracaibo and Portobelo and Bartolomeu Português
Bartolomeu Português
Bartolomeu Português was a Portuguese buccaneer who attacked Spanish shipping in the late 1660s; he also established one of the earliest sets of rules popularly known in pirate lore as "the Pirate's Code", later used by the pirates of the 18th century such as John Philips, Edward Low, and...
's famous escape. Powell uses the phrase only once.
In 1897, a more systematic use of the phrase "Golden Age of Piracy" was introduced by historian John Fiske, who wrote: "At no other time in the world's history has the business of piracy thriven so greatly as in the seventeenth century and the first part of the eighteenth. Its golden age may be said to have extended from about 1650 to about 1720." Fiske included the activities of the Barbary corsairs, and East Asian pirates in this "Golden Age," noting that "as these Mussulman pirates and those of Eastern Asia were as busily at work in the seventeenth century as at any other time, their case does not impair my statement that the age of the buccaneers was the Golden Age of piracy." Fiske does not cite Powell or any other source for the concept of a "Golden Age."
Pirate historians of the first half of the 20th century occasionally adopted Fiske's term "Golden Age," without necessarily following his beginning and ending dates for it. The most expansive definition of an age of piracy was that of Patrick Pringle, who wrote in 1951 that "the most flourishing era in the history of piracy . . . began in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and ended in the second decade of the eighteenth century." This idea starkly contradicted Fiske, who had hotly denied that such Elizabethan figures as Drake were pirates.
Trend toward narrow definitions
However, Pringle appears to be an exception to an overall trend from 1909 until the 1990s toward narrowing the Golden Age. As early as 1924, Philip Gosse described piracy as being at its height "from 1680 until 1730." In his highly popular 1978 book The Pirates for TimeLife's The Seafarers series, Douglas Botting defined the Golden Age as lasting "barely 30 years, starting at the close of the 17th Century and ending in the first quarter of the 18th." Botting's definition was closely followed by Frank Sherry in 1986. In a 1989 academic article, Professor Marcus Rediker defined the Golden Age as lasting only from 1716 to 1726. Angus Konstam in 1998, reckoned the era as lasting from 1700 until 1730.Perhaps the ultimate step in restricting the Golden Age was in Konstam's 2005 The History of Pirates, in which he retreated from his own earlier definition, called a 1690–1730 definition of the Golden Age "generous," and concluded that "The worst of these pirate excesses was limited to an eight-year period, from 1714 until 1722, so the true Golden Age cannot even be called a 'golden decade.'"
Recent countertrend toward broader meaning
David Cordingly, in his influential 1995 work Under the Black Flag, defined the "great age of piracy" as lasting from the 1650s to around 1725, very close to Fiske's definition of the Golden Age.Rediker, in 2004, described the most complex definition of the Golden Age to date. He proposes a "golden age of piracy, which spanned the period from roughly 1650 to 1730," which he subdivides into three distinct "generations": the buccaneers of 1650-80, the Indian Ocean pirates of the 1690s, and the pirates of the years 1716–1726.
Rediker's is probably the most current academic definition of the Golden Age. The popular definition can only be called confused.
Origins
Piracy arose out of, and mirrored on a smaller scale, the conflicts over trade and colonization among the rival European powers of the time, including the empires of Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal and France. Most of these pirates were of English, Dutch and French origin.The buccaneering period, c. 1650–1680
Some historians mark the beginning of the Golden Age of Piracy at around 1650, when the end of the Wars of ReligionEuropean wars of religion
The European wars of religion were a series of wars waged in Europe from ca. 1524 to 1648, following the onset of the Protestant Reformation in Western and Northern Europe...
allowed European countries to resume the development of their colonial empires. This involved considerable seaborne trade, and a general economic improvement: there was money to be made—or stolen—and much of it traveled by ship.
French buccaneers had established themselves on northern Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
as early as 1625, but lived at first mostly as hunters rather than robbers; their transition to full-time piracy was gradual and motivated in part by Spanish efforts to wipe out both the buccaneers and the prey animals on which they depended. The buccaneers' migration from Hispaniola's mainland to the more defensible offshore island of Tortuga limited their resources and accelerated their piratical raids. According to Alexandre Exquemelin
Alexandre Exquemelin
Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin was a French writer best known as the author of one of the most important sourcebooks of 17th century piracy, first published in Dutch as De Americaensche Zee-Roovers, in Amsterdam, by Jan ten Hoorn, in 1678.Born about 1645, it is likely that Exquemelin was a native of...
, a buccaneer and historian who remains a major source on this period, the Tortuga buccaneer Pierre Le Grand
Pierre le Grand (pirate)
Pierre Le Grand was a Caribbean buccaneer of the 17th century. He is known to history only from one source, Alexandre Exquemelin's Buccaneers of America, and may be imaginary.-Origins:Pierre was born in Dieppe, France...
pioneered the settlers' attacks on galleons making the return voyage to Spain.
The growth of buccaneering on Tortuga was augmented by the English capture of Jamaica from Spain in 1655. The early English governors of Jamaica freely granted letters of marque to Tortuga buccaneers and to their own countrymen, while the growth of Port Royal provided these raiders with a far more profitable and enjoyable place to sell their booty. In the 1660s, the new French governor of Tortuga, Bertrand d'Ogeron, similarly provided privateering commissions both to his own colonists and to English cutthroats from Port Royal. These conditions brought Caribbean buccaneering to its zenith.
The Pirate Round, c. 1693–1700
A number of factors caused Anglo-American pirates, some of whom had cut their teeth during the buccaneering period, to look beyond the Caribbean for treasure as the 1690s began. The fall of Britain's Stuart kings had restored the traditional enmity between Britain and France, thus ending the profitable collaboration between English Jamaica and French Tortuga. The devastation of Port Royal by an earthquake in 16921692 Jamaica earthquake
The 1692 Jamaica earthquake struck Port Royal, Jamaica on June 7, at exactly 11:43 a.m., according to a stopped pocket watch found in the harbour in the 1950s. Port Royal was then the unofficial capital of Jamaica, and one of the busiest and wealthiest ports in the West Indies...
further reduced the Caribbean's attractions by destroying the pirates' chief market for fenced plunder. Caribbean colonial governors began to discard the traditional policy of "no peace beyond the Line," under which it was understood that war would continue (and thus letters of marque would be granted) in the Caribbean regardless of peace treaties signed in Europe; henceforth, commissions would be granted only in wartime, and their limitations would be strictly enforced. Furthermore, much of the Spanish Main had simply been exhausted; Maracaibo
Maracaibo
Maracaibo is a city and municipality located in northwestern Venezuela off the western coast of the Lake Maracaibo. It is the second-largest city in the country after the national capital Caracas and the capital of Zulia state...
alone had been sacked three times between 1667 and 1678, while Río de la Hacha had been raided five times and Tolú
Tolú
Tolú is a small town and municipality in Sucre Department, northern Colombia by the Caribbean sea. The municipality has an area of 500 km². The name of Tolú comes from a tree called the Balsam of Tolú....
eight.
At the same time, England's less favored colonies, including Bermuda, New York, and Rhode Island, had become cash-starved by the Navigation Acts. Merchants and governors eager for coin were willing to overlook and even underwrite pirate voyages; one colonial official defended a pirate because he thought it "very harsh to hang people that brings in gold to these provinces." Although some of these pirates operating out of New England and the Middle Colonies targeted Spain's remoter Pacific coast colonies well into the 1690s and beyond, the Indian Ocean was a richer and more tempting target. India's economic output dwarfed Europe's during this time, especially in high-value luxury goods like silk and calico which made ideal pirate booty; at the same time, no powerful navies plied the Indian Ocean, leaving both local shipping and the various East India companies' vessels vulnerable to attack. This set the stage for the famous piracies of Thomas Tew
Thomas Tew
Thomas Tew , also known as the Rhode Island Pirate, was a 17th century English privateer-turned-pirate. Although he embarked on only two major piratical voyages, and met a bloody death on the latter journey, Tew pioneered the route which became known as the Pirate Round. Many other famous pirates,...
, Henry Every
Henry Every
Henry Every, also Avery or Avary, , sometimes given as John Avery, was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in the mid-1690s. He likely used several aliases throughout his career, including Benjamin Bridgeman, and was known as Long Ben to his crewmen and associates...
, Robert Culliford
Robert Culliford
Robert Culliford was an English pirate from Cornwall who is best remembered for repeatedly checking the designs of Captain William Kidd.-Early career and capture:...
and (although his guilt remains controversial) William Kidd
William Kidd
William "Captain" Kidd was a Scottish sailor remembered for his trial and execution for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians deem his piratical reputation unjust, as there is evidence that Kidd acted only as a privateer...
.
The post-Spanish-Succession period
Between 1713 and 1714, a succession of peace treaties was signed which ended the War of the Spanish SuccessionWar of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
(also called 'Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
'). With the end of this conflict, thousands of seamen, including Britain's paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s, were relieved of military duty. The result was a large number of trained, idle sailors at a time when the cross-Atlantic colonial shipping trade was beginning to boom. In addition, Europeans who had been pushed by unemployment to become sailors and soldiers involved in slaving were often enthusiastic to abandon that profession and turn to pirating, giving pirate captains for many years a constant pool of trained European recruits to be found in west African waters and coasts.
In 1715, pirates launched a major raid on Spanish divers trying to recover gold from a sunken treasure galleon near Florida. The nucleus of the pirate force was a group of English ex-privateers, all of whom would soon be enshrined in infamy: Henry Jennings
Henry Jennings
Henry Jennings was an 18th century British privateer who served primarily during the War of Spanish Succession and later served as leader of the pirate haven of New Providence....
, Charles Vane
Charles Vane
Charles Vane was an English pirate who preyed upon English and French shipping. His pirate career lasted from 1716 - 1719. His flagship was a brigantine named the Ranger....
, Samuel Bellamy
Samuel Bellamy
Samuel Bellamy , aka "Black Sam" Bellamy, was an English pirate who operated in the early 18th century....
, and Edward England
Edward England
Edward England, born Edward Seegar in Ireland, was a famous African coast and Indian Ocean pirate captain from 1717 to 1720. The ships he sailed on included the Pearl and later the Fancy, for which England exchanged the Pearl in 1720...
. The attack was successful, but contrary to their expectations, the governor of Jamaica refused to allow Jennings and their cohorts to spend their loot on his island. With Kingston and the declining Port Royal closed to them, Jennings and his comrades founded a new pirate base at Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
, on the island of New Providence
New Providence
New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It also houses the national capital city, Nassau.The island was originally under Spanish control following Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World, but the Spanish government showed...
in the Bahamas, which had been abandoned during the war. Until the arrival of governor Woodes Rogers
Woodes Rogers
Woodes Rogers was an English sea captain, privateer, and, later, the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of the vessel that rescued the marooned Alexander Selkirk, whose plight is generally believed to have inspired Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.Rogers came from an...
three years later, Nassau would be home for these pirates and their many recruits.
Shipping traffic between Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe began to soar in the 18th century, a model that was known as triangular trade
Triangular trade
Triangular trade, or triangle trade, is a historical term indicating among three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come...
, and was a rich target for piracy. Trade ships sailed from Europe to the African coast, trading manufactured goods and weapons for slaves. The traders would then sail to the Caribbean to sell the slaves, and return to Europe with goods such as sugar, tobacco and cocoa. Another triangular trade saw ships carry raw materials, preserved cod, and rum to Europe, where a portion of the cargo would be sold for manufactured goods, which (along with the remainder of the original load) were transported to the Caribbean, where they were exchanged for sugar and molasses, which (with some manufactured articles) were borne to New England. Ships in the triangular trade made money at each stop.
As part of the war's settlement, Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
obtained the asiento
Asiento
The Asiento in the history of slavery refers to the permission given by the Spanish government to other countries to sell people as slaves to the Spanish colonies, between the years 1543 and 1834...
, a Spanish government contract, to supply slaves to Spain's new world colonies, providing British traders and smugglers more access to the traditionally closed Spanish markets in America. This arrangement also contributed heavily to the spread of piracy across the western Atlantic at this time. Shipping to the colonies boomed simultaneously with the flood of skilled mariners after the war. Merchant shippers used the surplus of sailors' labor to drive wages down, cutting corners to maximize their profits, and creating unsavory conditions aboard their vessels. Merchant sailors suffered from mortality rates as high or higher than the slaves being transported (Rediker, 2004). Living conditions were so poor that many sailors began to prefer a freer existence as a pirate. The increased volume of shipping traffic also could sustain a large body of brigands preying upon it.
Pirates of the era
- Henry MorganHenry MorganAdmiral Sir Henry Morgan was an Admiral of the Royal Navy, a privateer, and a pirate who made a name for himself during activities in the Caribbean, primarily raiding Spanish settlements...
, a buccaneer who raided the Spaniards and took the city of Panama. He was to be executed in England but was instead knighted and made governor of Jamaica. He died a natural death in 1688. - Henry EveryHenry EveryHenry Every, also Avery or Avary, , sometimes given as John Avery, was an English pirate who operated in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in the mid-1690s. He likely used several aliases throughout his career, including Benjamin Bridgeman, and was known as Long Ben to his crewmen and associates...
, who is most famous for being one of the few major pirate captains to retire with his loot without being arrested or killed in battle, and also for capturing the fabulously wealthy Mogul ship Ganj-i-SawaiGanj-i-SawaiThe Ganj-i-Sawai or Gang-i-Sawai was a heavily armed trading ship belonging to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb which, along with its escort the Fateh Muhammed, was captured on 7 September 1695 by the English pirate Henry Every en route from present day Mocha, Yemen to Surat, India.In August 1695,...
in 1694. - William "Captain" KiddWilliam KiddWilliam "Captain" Kidd was a Scottish sailor remembered for his trial and execution for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean. Some modern historians deem his piratical reputation unjust, as there is evidence that Kidd acted only as a privateer...
, who was executed for piracy at Execution Dock, LondonExecution DockExecution Dock was used for more than 400 years in London to execute pirates, smugglers and mutineers that had been sentenced to death by Admiralty courts. The "dock", which consisted of a scaffold for hanging, was located near the shoreline of the River Thames at Wapping...
in 1701, is famous for the 'buried treasure' he is supposed to have left behind. - "Black Sam" BellamySamuel BellamySamuel Bellamy , aka "Black Sam" Bellamy, was an English pirate who operated in the early 18th century....
, captain of the Whydah GallyWhydah GallyThe Whydah Gally was the flagship of the pirate "Black Sam" Bellamy. The ship sank in a storm off Cape Cod on April 26, 1717, taking Bellamy and the majority of his crew with it.-History:...
, who was lost in a storm in 1717. - Stede BonnetStede BonnetStede Bonnet was an early 18th-century Barbadian pirate, sometimes called "the gentleman pirate" because he was a moderately wealthy landowner before turning to a life of crime. Bonnet was born into a wealthy English family on the island of Barbados, and inherited the family estate after his...
, a rich BarbadianBarbadosBarbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
land owner, turned pirate solely in search of adventure. Bonnet captained a 10-gun sloopSloopA sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
, named the Revenge, raiding ships off the VirginiaVirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
coast in 1717. He was caught and hangedHangingHanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
in 1718. - Edward Teach, more commonly known as Blackbeard, ruled the seas with an iron fist from 1716 to 1718 as perhaps the most famous pirate among English speaking nations. Blackbeard's most famous ship was the Queen Anne's RevengeQueen Anne's RevengeQueen Anne's Revenge was the name of English pirate Blackbeard's flagship, used by him for less than a year, but an effective tool in his prize taking....
, named in response to the end of Queen Anne's WarQueen Anne's WarQueen Anne's War , as the North American theater of the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the British colonies, was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, later Great Britain, in North America for control of the continent. The War of the...
. Blackbeard was killed by one of Lieutenant Robert MaynardRobert MaynardCaptain Robert Maynard RN was a lieutenant and later captain in the Royal Navy, First Lieutenant of HMS Pearl, most famous for defeating the infamous English pirate Blackbeard in battle.- Naval commands and battles :...
's crewmen in 1718. - Calico Jack RackhamCalico JackJohn Rackham , commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas during the early 18th century...
was captured, then hangHangingHanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
ed and gibbetGibbetA gibbet is a gallows-type structure from which the dead bodies of executed criminals were hung on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. In earlier times, up to the late 17th century, live gibbeting also took place, in which the criminal was placed alive in a metal cage...
ed outside Port Royal, Jamaica in 1720. - Bartholomew RobertsBartholomew RobertsBartholomew Roberts , born John Roberts, was a Welsh pirate who raided ships off America and West Africa between 1719 and 1722. He was the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy. He is estimated to have captured over 470 vessels...
, sometimes called "Black Bart", has been considered by many as the most successful pirate of all time. He was killed off the coast of Africa in 1722. - Edward Low, active 1721–1724, who was notorious for torturing his victims before killing them.
- William FlyWilliam FlyCaptain William Fly was an English pirate who raided New England shipping until he was captured by some of the crew of a seized ship. He was hanged in Boston, Massachusetts. Reportedly, Fly approached the hanging with complete disdain and even reproached the hangman for doing a poor job, remaking...
, whose execution in 1726 is used by historian Marcus RedikerMarcus RedikerMarcus Rediker is an American professor, historian, writer, and activist for a variety of peace and social justice causes. He graduated with a B.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1976 and attended the University of Pennsylvania for graduate study, earning an M.A. and Ph.D. in history...
to mark the end of the Golden Age of Pirates.
Female pirates
Women entered the career of piracy as well (most usually disguised as men). The two best-known female pirates were Anne BonnyAnne Bonny
Anne Bonny was an Irish woman who became a famous female pirate, operating in the Caribbean. What little is known of her life comes largely from A General History of the Pyrates.-Historical record:...
(also sometimes spelled Bonney) and Mary Read
Mary Read
Mary Read was an English pirate. She is chiefly remembered as one of only two women known to have been convicted of piracy during the early 18th century, at the height of the Golden Age of Piracy....
.
Bonny grew up ferocious, and, unable to leave an earlier marriage, eloped with Rackham, with whom she was in love. Mary Read had been dressed as a boy all her life by her mother, and had spent time in the British military. She came to the West Indies (Caribbean) after the death of her husband, and fell in with Calico Jack and Anne Bonny.
When their ship was assaulted, the two women were the only ones that defended it. The other crew members were too drunk to fight. In the end they were captured and arrested.
After their capture, both women stalled their death sentences (the punishment for piracy) by claiming to be pregnant. Read died in jail, many believe of a fever or complications of childbirth. Bonny disappears from the record entirely.
Barbary pirates
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
n (the "Barbary coast
Barbary Coast
The Barbary Coast, or Barbary, was the term used by Europeans from the 16th until the 19th century to refer to much of the collective land of the Berber people. Today, the terms Maghreb and "Tamazgha" correspond roughly to "Barbary"...
") ports of Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
, Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
, Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
, Salé
Salé
Salé is a city in north-western Morocco, on the right bank of the Bou Regreg river, opposite the national capital Rabat, for which it serves as a commuter town...
and ports in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, preying on shipping in the western Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
from the time of the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
as well as on ships on their way to Asia around Africa until the early 19th century. The coastal villages and towns of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Mediterranean islands were frequently attacked by them and long stretches of the Italian and Spanish coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants; since the 17th century, Barbary pirates occasionally entered the Atlantic and struck as far north as Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
. According to Robert Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in the Arab world
Arab slave trade
The Arab slave trade was the practice of slavery in the Arab World, mainly Western Asia, North Africa, East Africa and certain parts of Europe during their period of domination by Arab leaders. The trade was focused on the slave markets of the Middle East and North Africa...
between the 16th and 19th centuries.
The early 17th century may be described as the flowering time of the Barbary pirates. This is because the introduction of new sailing rigs by Simon de Danser enabled the North African raiders, for the first time, to brave the Atlantic as well as Mediterranean waters. More than 20,000 captives were said to be imprisoned in Algiers alone. The rich were allowed to redeem themselves, but the poor were condemned to slavery. Their masters would on occasion allow them to secure freedom by professing Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. A long list might be given of people of good social position, not only Italians or Spaniards, but also German and English travelers in the south, who were captives for a time.
Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
was subject to raids known as the Turkish Abductions
Turkish Abductions
The Turkish Abductions were a series of raids that took place in Iceland between July 4 – July 19, 1627. Both Austurland and Vestmannaeyjar were raided by Barbary pirates from the regency of Algiers.In 1627, Jan Janszoon hired a Danish “slave”...
in 1627. Murat Reis (Jan Janszoon
Jan Janszoon
Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, commonly known as Murat Reis the younger was the first President and Grand Admiral of the Corsair Republic of Salé, Governor of Oualidia, and a Dutch pirate, one of the most notorious of the Barbary pirates from the 17th century; the most famous of the "Salé...
) is said to have taken 400 prisoners; 242 of the captives later were sold into slavery on the Barbary Coast
Barbary Coast
The Barbary Coast, or Barbary, was the term used by Europeans from the 16th until the 19th century to refer to much of the collective land of the Berber people. Today, the terms Maghreb and "Tamazgha" correspond roughly to "Barbary"...
. The pirates took only young people and those in good physical condition. All those offering resistance were killed, and the old people were gathered into a church which was set on fire. Among those captured was Ólafur Egilsson
Ólafur Egilsson
Ólafur Egilsson was an Icelandic priest. He was abducted along with his wife and two sons by Barbary Pirates during their raid on Vestmannaeyjar. This raid is known in Icelandic history as Tyrkjaránið . He returned to Vestmannaeyjar in 1628 but his wife Ásta Þorsteinsdóttir did not return until...
, who was ransomed the next year and, upon returning to Iceland, wrote a slave narrative
Slave narrative
The slave narrative is a literary form which grew out of the written accounts of enslaved Africans in Britain and its colonies, including the later United States, Canada and Caribbean nations...
about his experience. Another famous captive from that raid was Guðríður Símonardóttir
Guðríður Símonardóttir
Guðríður Símonardóttir was one of 242 people abducted from the Westman Islands, Iceland in 1627. The attacks by Barbary corsairs came to be known as the Turkish abductions and Guðríður became known as Tyrkja-Gudda.-Life:...
. The sack of Vestmannaeyjar is known in the history of Iceland
History of Iceland
-Early history:In geological terms, Iceland is a young island. It started to form about 20 million years ago from a series of volcanic eruptions on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge...
as Tyrkjaránið.
One of the stereotypical features of a pirate in popular culture, the eye patch
Eyepatch
An eyepatch or eye pad is a small patch that is worn in front of one eye. It may be a cloth patch attached around the head by an elastic band or by a string, or an adhesive bandage. It is often worn by people to cover a lost or injured eye, but it also has a therapeutic use in children for the...
, dates back to the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
pirate Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah, who wore it after losing an eye in battle in the 18th century.
While the Golden Age of European and American pirates is generally considered to have ended between 1710 and 1730, the prosperity of the Barbary pirates continued until the early 19th century. Unlike the European powers, the young United States refused to pay tribute to the Barbary states, and responded with naval attacks
Barbary Wars
The Barbary Wars were a series of wars between the United States of America and the Barbary States of North Africa in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. At issue was the Barbary pirates' demand of tribute from American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. If ships failed to pay, pirates...
against North Africa when the Barbary pirates captured and enslaved American sailors. Although the U.S. met with only limited success in these wars, France and Great Britain with their more powerful navies soon followed suit and stamped out the Barbary raiders.
Decline
By the early 18th century tolerance for privateers was wearing thin by all nations. After the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, the excess of trained sailors without employment was both a blessing and a curse for all pirates. Initially the surplus of men had caused the number of pirates to multiply significantly. This inevitably led to the pillaging of more ships, which put a greater strain on trade for all European nations. In response European nations bolstered their own navies to offer greater protection for merchants and to hunt down pirates. The excess of skilled sailors meant there was a large pool that could be recruited into national navies as well. Piracy was clearly on a strong decline by 1720. The Golden Age of Piracy didn’t last the decade.The events of the latter half of 1718 represent a turning point in the history of piracy in the New World. Without a safe base and in the growing pressure from naval forces, the rovers lost their momentum. The lure of the Spanish treasures had faded, and the hunters gradually became the hunted. By early 1719, the remaining pirates were on the run. Most of them headed for West Africa, seizing poorly defended slavers.
Effect on popular culture
Although some of the details are often misremembered, the effect upon popular culturePirates in popular culture
In American and British popular culture, the modern pirate stereotype owes its tradition mostly to depictions of Captain Hook and his crew in theatrical and film versions of Peter Pan, Robert Newton's portrayal of Long John Silver in the film Treasure Island, and various adaptations of Sinbad the...
of the Golden Age of Piracy can hardly be overstated. A General History of the Pyrates
A General History of the Pyrates
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates is a 1724 book published in Britain, containing biographies of contemporary pirates. Influential in shaping popular conceptions of pirates, it is the prime source for the biographies of many well known pirates...
by Charles Johnson, is the prime source for the biographies of many well known pirates of the Golden Age, providing an extensive account of the period. In giving an almost mythical status to the more colorful characters such as the notorious English pirates Blackbeard
Blackbeard
Edward Teach , better known as Blackbeard, was a notorious English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of the American colonies....
and Calico Jack
Calico Jack
John Rackham , commonly known as Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain operating in the Bahamas during the early 18th century...
, the book provided the standard account of the lives of many pirates in the Golden Age, and influenced pirate literature of Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
and J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
. Such literary works as Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
and Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
, while romanticized, drew heavily on pirates and piracy for their plots. Movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean
Pirates of the Caribbean is a multi-billion dollar Walt Disney franchise encompassing a series of films, a theme park ride, and spinoff novels as well as numerous video games and other publications. The franchise originates with the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, which opened at Disneyland in...
, Anime such as One Piece
One Piece
is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
and video games such as the Monkey Island series drew heavily from this romanticized ideal of piracy. In turn, they helped implant an (often inaccurate) image of old-time pirates in contemporary minds.
More recently, even less accurate depictions of historical-era pirates (e.g., Talk Like a Pirate Day) have advanced to the forefront. However, these phenomena have only served to advance the romantic image of piracy and its treasure-burying swashbucklers in popular culture.