Page 171 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1472 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

between Alexander the Great and a pirate who asks: killed in North Carolina in 1718. In Jamaica two years
“How darest thou molest the whole world? But because later, Calico Jack Rackam and his consorts Mary Read
I do with a little ship only, I am called a thief: thou doing and Ann Bonny were captured, tried, and sentenced to
it with a great navy, are called an emperor” (Pennell 2001, death. Rackam hanged, but Read and Bonny, both preg-
25). Modern practice follows Cicero and Coke, and nant, were spared; Read died in prison, Bonny’s fate is
“enemy of humankind” (hostis humani generis) is used unknown.The tough measures worked, and within a few
today not only to describe pirates but also in reference to years piracy was all but eradicated in the western Atlantic.
people engaged in terrorism, torture, and genocide. An early form of episodic piracy is found in the second
The conditions in which piracy flourishes make the century BCE, when Cilician pirates from Asia Minor
concept of legality difficult to pin down. One classifica- evolved from relatively small groups into a full-fledged
tion of maritime predation distinguishes between para- navy that fought against Rome in the Mithridatic Wars.
sitic, intrinsic, and episodic forms. Of these, only parasitic Determined to crush the Cilicians, the people endowed
qualifies as pure piracy conducted without any legal con- Pompey the Great with the administrative power of the
straints, such as was found in the Caribbean and western imperium for an unprecedented period of three years in 67
Atlantic during the classic age of piracy, from about 1650 BCE. His campaign was swift and decisive, but the linger-
to 1725. This was the era of flags emblazoned with a ing effects of his imperium are regarded as a milestone in
skull and crossed bones, one of many symbols—albeit a the metamorphosis of Rome from a republic to an empire.
popular one—intended to strike fear in the minds of In the fifteenth century, China’s Ming dynasty banned
prospective victims. Government efforts to suppress overseas trade, putting tens of thousands of seamen out
piracy were every bit as ruthless
as the pirates themselves. In
1701 Captain William Kidd, a
privateer-turned-pirate wanted
for crimes committed in the
Indian Ocean, was captured in
Boston, hanged at London’s
Execution Dock, and displayed
at Tilbury Point on the River
Thames as a warning to others.
Kidd was only one of many
early-eighteenth-century pirates
who were tried by government
authorities anxious to encour-
age peaceful trade. The ruth-
less Edward Teach, or Black-
beard, was hunted down and

Spanish forces capture
pirates on the Carolina
coast.