The History of the Pirates Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The History of the Pirates - Research Paper Example From the research it can be comprehended that, historically, civilization has developed in lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Civilization began in Ancient Egypt. There is evidence that peoples from different parts of the world made journeys across oceans to Ancient Egypt to partake in trade and other activities. This is because there is the mention of ships and boats in Biblical texts like Genesis 49 where Jacob blesses one of his sons to control a port. This shows that ships existed for several thousands of years. Although there are few sources of piracy in that era of Ancient Egypt, there is little evidence that also shows that there was no piracy. This therefore leaves this era of history in some kind of darkness. However, Grainger states that there is evidence that piracy was quite common in the era where Ancient Greece was at its peak. He quotes an instance the Assyrian King Sennacharib who sought to fight piracy in his time. In Grainger's assessment of Sennacharib's attemp t to fight piracy, he notes that the effort was not so successful since there were too many limitations in resources the king had. There were also clear evidence that the pirates had so many options and could evade capture. This is because in that era, there concept of nationality was not so strong and there was little co-operation between nations. This made it difficult to handle instances where ships intercepted other ships and stole the cargo and killed people on the ship. Numerous texts cite that the Phoenicians were notorious for the practice of piracy (Alberton, 2006). These Phoenicians normally operated in the Mediterranean where they attacked ships carrying trade inputs from different parts of the Known World. However, the coming of the Roman Empire saw a single government controlling a large number of nations in the region. This led to some level of naval co-operation that sought to control the activities of pirates and similar criminals (Alberton, 2006) Privateering The Am ericas were discovered by Europeans in 1492. The journey over the Atlantic presented a larger volume of ocean that ships and vessels were to cover. Unlike the Mediterranean which was a small corridor of water, the huge distance between Known World and the New world made it difficult for the waters to be patrolled and piracy controlled. This led to a new age of privateering. Privateering refers to individuals who had no national allegiance