8014 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 1

Pirates is a term used to describe people who rob and often drown commercial units for robbery purposes, less often - who attack coasts with the same targets. The concept of piracy has been known since ancient times, and the fight against them was led by, for example, Julius Caesar or Pompey in the 1st century BC. It is also not limited to the European civilization circle - some of the most famous pirates in history were Japanese pirates attacking the Chinese shores, known as wako, who were particularly active in the 13th-14th centuries. The particular development of piracy in the Atlantic took place in the 16th and 17th centuries and was closely related to the import of silver and gold by Spain from the New World. A very intense fight against piracy began in the 18th century, and the fight was initiated by Great Britain, with considerable success in this field. It is also worth remembering that Berber pirates operating in the Mediterranean Sea were a serious problem at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, but as a result of two so-called the Berber Wars (1801-1805 and 1815-1816) this problem was liquidated on the initiative of the US Navy. It is worth adding that pirates used various types of ships, including sloops, brigs and galleons. A specific flag of the pirates was the so-called Jolly Roger, or a laughing skull with crossbones on a black background. On the other hand, the most famous pirates were, for example, Edward England, Samuel Bellamy and William Kidd.