Welcome to our Age of Pirates page. This is one of my favorite impressions from the Baroque/Colonial period of our history. I have seen people associate pirates with the Renassaince Age but the time period that was the "Golden Age of Pirates" was from 1650 to 1720. The majority of pirates were around the times of 1718-1720. We know that pirates were the ones that robbed others on the open seas but not many of us know that some were privateers and then became pirates. And most do not know, that to this day in the South China Seas; there are still pirates.

We do hope you enjoy this section. We shall have the historical backgrounds of famous or infamous pirates. We will also have the type of clothing they wore and so forth. We will have information on being a pirate, a wench, a lady pirate and the crew. Grab some ale, sit back and enjoy!.

If a privateer is fighting for another country, you would probably consider him a pirate. The British considered John Paul Jones a traitor and a pirate! The term is very loose. Anyone who robs at sea is and was a pirate. When privateers exceeded the bounds of their commission, they became pirates. There is a thin line between smugglers and pirates. The thin line was smugglers didn't rob per-se, they just brought in goods that had been stolen or were not properly taxed by the authorities. Depending on the circumstance, pirates did their share of smuggling as well as robbing.

There are numerous terms used to describe the life of piracy. some of the more common are Brethren of the Coast or Brotherhood of the Coast, On the Account, Gentleman of Fortune, Sea Dog, Sailing with the Devil, Sailing Under Articles. Often Pirates would claim they sailed under no flag, meaning they belonged to no nation.

The end of the 17th century saw the greatest outburst of piracy in the history of seafaring. Ironically called 'the Golden Age of Piracy', the era lasted for around 30 years, from around 1700-1730. Although the most troubled area was the Caribbean, piracy was also rife off the Eastern seaboard of America, in the Indian Ocean and off the West Coast of Africa (where the 'Pirate Round' followed the trade routes from India to America via Africa). The piracy boom was the result of circumstances: the end of the War of the Spanish Succession (between France and an Alliance of England, Holland and the German States) meant that ports were full of unemployed sailors and there was a general lack of legal employment. The majority of the pirates who have gripped the popular imagination operated during this period.

Pirates only remained successful so long as nations allowed them to roam. Often, a corrupt governor would allow a persons or persons perform piratical acts for a set fee, similar to the arrangements for privateering. Of course the acts committed were not against enemy vessels, it was just purely for financial gain. In return the pirate received safe harbor. Once nations and colonial authorities eliminated safe harbors, organized piracy began to dry up quickly.

By definition, a pirate is any person committing a criminal acts against public authority, on the high seas outside the normal jurisdiction and laws of any state (country). By law, they can be arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced by any state that captures them. Also, by definition, the criminal act is of a private nature, that is personal gain, and not for political reasons. Of course that is very narrow definition that all nations agree on. Needless to say, even today, most nations have a broader interpretation of what a pirate is.

Legends in their own time, pirates such as Blackbeard and Bartholomew Roberts now seem larger than life. What we really know of them is surprisingly little, and is drawn from the recollections of ex-pirates, former victims, naval officers who encountered them, or the records of courtrooms and confessions. One other source is the book A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates (1724).

The lack of strong government presence in the majority of the American Colonies made the seaboard a pirate hunting ground. The benefits of illicit trade between pirates and townspeople were balanced against the disruption of shipping and rising insurance prices. One by one the Colonial Governors clamped down on piracy in their waters, and judicial pressure was backed by naval force to end the outbreak. By 1730 the era of rampant piracy was all but over. Although later outbreaks of piracy occurred, this short era would remain lodged in popular and romantic culture as the 'Golden Age of Piracy'. The romantic sounding name belied the cruelty, harshness and misery created by pirates, and unlike other 'Golden Ages' it was rarely regarded with any form of nostalgia. The phrase itself was never actually used by those who lived through it.