Pirate
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.
Off the North African and Mediterranean coasts were Muslim pirates called the Barbary corsairs. The French considered them straight up pirates but the locals and Islamic governments considered them privateers, as they tended to raid only non-Islamic people.
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.
Unrest and competition between Spain, France and England saw the use of pirates as a successful tool in the many wars these countries fought with each other. Pirate activity would become sanctioned by a government making the pirates theft and treachery legal, as long as the privateers performed their misdeeds against the enemy.
At times pirate activity would get so out of control that governments would forge alliances to clean up the waters of most pirates so that trade routes could be safe again.
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.
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