01 The history of piracy

Piracy is as old as maritime navigation itself. Armed with cutlasses and canons, the pirates of the past roamed the seas in sailing ships. Now they have state-of-the-art weapons and hunt their prey in high-speed boats.

Antiquity

In Greek mythology, piracy was treated as a profession like hunting and fishing and was closely linked with the slave trade, for serfs were particularly coveted as booty in addition to the usual merchandise. Then as now, those states which engaged in maritime trade sought to protect their ships against pirate attack and signed treaties with their neighbours. The only really successful option, however, was to deploy their naval forces. Such was the case in 70 BC when, with an armada of 500 warships, the Roman Empire destroyed more than 1,700 pirate ships and thus prevented a threatening famine.

The 14th century

Sweden and Denmark were at war from 1389 until 1392. In those days, privateering during wars at sea was a right of capture at sea, legitimated by the sovereign. The people of Mecklenburg hired a group of freebooters known as the Victual Brothers to assist them.

Even after the war was over and peace had been signed, they continued their raids and were widely feared as pirates with their slogan "God's friends and the whole world's enemies". It was several decades before they were conquered by the Hanseatic League. The best known leader of the Victual Brothers was Klaus Störtebeker, who was captured and executed by Hanseatic forces in 1401.

16th to 19th centuries

Piracy experienced another great era during the age of discovery and conquest. Maritime trade flourished on the world's oceans and the pirates scented rich booty. They did not always act on their own behalf, however, for the feudal powers legalised their raids in order to capture their share of the New World's riches and to protect their ships against attack.

Another important chapter in the history of piracy was written by the Barbary pirates or corsairs. They operated out of the Barbary coast of Northwest Africa and were known as the "scourge of all merchant ships in the Mediterranean". The success of the Barbary pirates is a prime example of how difficult it is to combat piracy, and that is true even today. The chapter of the Barbary pirates was not closed until 1830 when the French finally conquered Algiers.

Although piracy lost its official legitimation when the Paris Declaration on Maritime Rights put an end to state-authorised privateering in 1856 and the Brussels Act finally abolished slavery in 1890, it has nevertheless survived, as a criminal act, right up to the present day.