Golden Age Of Piracy Research Paper

Although the Golden Age of Piracy lasted only 70 years from the 1650’s to the 1720’s it had an enormous impact on world economics and trade. Pirates disrupted trade and moved valuables around. They freed slaves and crippled trade between the new and old world. Britain, Spain, the Caribbean, and the Americas were the most adversely affected countries by piracy with goods being stolen from the spanish and providing wealth to the new and old world. Piracy during its golden age affected various countries in both a positive and negative way.

By the beginning of the 1700’s piracy was deeply ingrained in the caribbean which led to permanent colonies, thriving cities, and the creation of a steady flow of money coming into of all professions. The caribbean’s

In the 17th and 18th centuries European countries were racing to colonize the new world. Spain had massive success conquering South and Central America and was rushing to bring its new found riches back to Spain. The massive amount of valuables on these vessels created a perfect target for pirates and privateers. “Without strong naval power, the Dutch, English, and French encouraged private raids of Spanish shipping in the 16th century.”(Drake, “Piracy in North America”) Spain became a target of almost all European nations and due to this Spain’s loss was one of if not the most devastating felt during the golden age of piracy. Spain would constantly lose huge amounts of money from its ports, ships, and towns. One account of Sir Francis Drake’s raids on spanish vessels states that “Off the port of Valparaiso he took a spanish ship whose cargo included £8,000 in gold and 1,770 jars of wine… 4,000 ducats of silver, a chest of bullion, and an emerald encrusted crucifix”(29)(C) and another account of a ship he took with “80 lb of gold, and 26 tons of uncoined silver.”(30)(C) As shown it was not an uncommon occurrence for Spanish ships, gold, silver and other valuables to be stolen. Spain began to lose money at an alarming rate and it was just a matter of time until the impact of this would prove too much for the spanish. The spanish tried to prevent this by treaties

Henry Morgan, an extremely successful pirate illustrated perfectly how wealth was flowing into Britain through piracy “Morgan sailed to London and, largely by selectively sharing his loot, managed to gain both a knighthood and the deputy governorship of Jamaica.”(A) this kind of occurrence was not too uncommon and with instances such as Sir Francis Drake “[depositing] five tons of silver… in the Tower of London.”(31)(C) it is easy to see how piracy may have become a dream to many british higher ups. The british crown was reaping in many of the benefits of piracy through investment. “The shareholders who had backed the voyage (and they included the Queen) received a handsome return on their investment.”(31) For Britain in the 17th century piracy had become a cash cow for the rich to profit off of and for the poor to try their luck and gain unimaginable