Golden Age Of Piracy Thesis Statement

The Golden Age of Piracy appeared with the rise of new empires and the finding of The New World. Though throughout history piracy has been a recurring problem, but none of those times compare to The Golden Age of Piracy. From 1655 to the 1730’s the greatest surge in acts of piracy were recorded in history, with roughly 2,500 to 10,000 total active pirates during this era. These pirates were seen wherever there were unprotected trade routes and treasure to be captured. Many pirates expressed the earliest ideas of freedom and democracy. Thesis Statement.

Most pirates were originally seamen that severed for the British naval ships. When many of those men lost their jobs they turned to piracy to make a living (“Life Aboard Ship in the Golden Age

In the beginning of his journey he sailed onward with pure ideas and with his loyalty to Spain. Discovering lands full of wealth, Columbus became unjust. He resorted to murder and slavery of the natives, just for his own covetousness (“Famous Pirates and the Golden Age of Piracy”). Piracy consist of murder, robbery, and vandalization of property. Columbus committed all these acts. He failed to be a legalized explorer and he disregarded the wishes of the Queen. Murdering the natives, and destroying land for riches caused him to become skilled in piracy (“Famous Pirates and the Golden Age of Piracy”) . After the discovery of the New World, trade between the colonies and Europe began to boom causing The Golden Age of Piracy began to take hold (Krysteck,

Pirate ships were mostly run democratically. The crew would usually discuss where they wanted to sail and who they wanted to attack (Krysteck, Lee). On each pirate ship they had rules of conduct for the crew. These were call the Articles of Agreement, which was also known as the pirate code. If a member of the crew broke the pirate code, they were often punished without any remorse (“Famous Pirates and the Golden Age of Piracy”). As pirates grew in numbers they started to seek out places called safe havens. Places like these allowed pirates to rest, stockpile on food, gather supplies, and repair their ships without the threat of the nations (“Life Aboard Ship in the Golden Age of Piracy”). Some famous safe havens were Tortuga, Port Royal, New Providence, and Madagascar (“The Pirate Round”). As attacks became more frequent, Jamaica gave strict orders to break up the buccaneers and exterminate their operations (“Buccaneering Era”). Being driven away from their safe havens, the buccaneers spread themselves out. This caused them to become more vicious and crueler than they had ever been before (Famous Pirates and the Golden Age of Piracy”). The privateers got bored of peacetime and that would bring on the start of the Pirate Round (“Buccaneering