WHO WERE THE PIRATES? Daring figures who swooped on treasure ships and returned home with golden cargoes? Brutal sea-thieves who showed no mercy to their victims? Bold adventurers who financed travel by nautical theft? In fact they were all these things and more. The term "pirate" means simply "one who plunders on the sea", but those who led this life fell into several categories: "privateers" were sea-raiders with a government licence to pillage enemy ships; "buccaneers" were 17th-century pirates who menaced the Spanish in the Caribbean; "corsairs" were privateers and pirates who roved the Mediterranean. In the words of Bartholomew Roberts (p. 39), all were lured by the promise of "plenty..., pleasure..., liberty and power".

Robbers of the seas
Pirates of Ancient Greece
Pirates of the Roman world
Raiders of the North
The Barbary coast
The corsairs of Malta
The privateers
The Spanish Main
New World privateers
Navigation and maps
The buccaneers
Weapons
Pirates of the Caribbean
Women pirates
The Jolly Roger
Pirate treasure
Piracy and slavery
Life at sea
Food on board
Life on land
Pirates of the Indian Ocean
Desert islands
The French corsairs
American privateers
Pirates of the China seas
Punishment
The pirates defeated
Pirates in literature
Pirates in film and theatre
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Who's who?
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Glossary
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