Pirate

By Todd Massey

Pirate is now the frequently established expression throughout the world for an individual that perpetrates an assortment of wrongs on the ocean. A various points in history they were given specialized names helping to identify them either by region or nationality.

A buccaneer was a pirate that lived in the Caribbean. They were originally French and some English that lived on the island of Hispaniola and the name is derived from the original Indians of the island who had a word called "buccan". The French word was a person or boucanier and then it became buccaneer. Due to conflicts with the Spanish, the buccaneers hated them for running them off the island.

A stretch of land and water called the Barbary Coast was home to the privateers or Islamic pirates called Barbary corsairs. The French and other non-Islamic nations considered the corsairs pirates, instead of privateers. But they focused their efforts on Christian and non-Islamic prey.

Pirates really got their big start in the seas around Greece, where they raided merchants and were used by the warring countries and city-states against each other. At one time they were even used by the city-states as tax collectors due to the fact that so many people feared the pirates.

France, Spain and England fought back and forth with each other many times through the years with pirates and privateers playing huge roles in the outcomes of battles and wars. Pirates could often prove so successful as to bring an entire navy to its knees or to steal government treasure or disrupt trade so badly as to bankrupt a country.

When trade would become too disrupted by pirates some governments would join together in a concentrated effort to purge the pirates from trade routes.

Pirates are known for creating the first true individual democracy in which every man had a vote or say. The buccaneers established this code in rebellion against their harsh treatment from former countries. Breaking agreed upon rules was dealt with harshly as a means to enforcing their own laws or code.

Pirates around this time in the early to mid 1600's also established rules to take care of their own by compensation if they were injured or lost a body part. Typically a body part on the right side was worth more than on the left side.

Being a pirate could be a tough existence, hazardous and lethal but your only other choice of a life at sea would have been the navy. Life in the navy gave you no choices, while pirates had a vote in many decisions. Not all men on a pirate ship were there voluntarily but even the navies used kidnapping and forced men and boys into service.

Navy pay was terrible while a pirate could receive large sums after a successful raid and the treasure had been divvied up. But as was often the case a pirate would spend or lose all his money in a few nights of celebration.

About the Author:

Pirates exist larger than life in our minds due to popular media. Another great Pirate novel has come out that combines pirates and magic like no body else has before.