The Golden Age Of Piracy In The Caribbean

As previously mentioned, the Golden Age of Piracy has become romanticized. It is due to this, that many scholars have seemed to have formed the opinion that the violent acts committed during the Golden Age have become blurred and even overlooked. Yet, as much as scholars want to think this is something new, the acts of piracy have always been blurred. Piracy is commonly referred to as the practice of attacking and robbing at sea or a coastal region. When piracy was just getting started in the Caribbean during the early decades of the golden age, similar actions were carried out by England’s Royal Navy. From 1655 to 1670, England’s navy and commissioned privateering vessels, continuously raided Spain’s Caribbean territories and merchant ships for goods. But because, both the navy and privateer ships were working under the law, the acts of violence they committed were not and are still not considered acts of piracy. Perhaps it is due to the fact that most pirates were of lower class, and that it was the authority figures who deemed them pirates. …show more content…
Almost all were of lower working-class individuals who were “deprived of access to the goodies in life” and were prepared to do whatever it took to reverse their current state. They had little or no formal education, but would have had previous experience or knowledge of life at sea. Arguably, it was the only education they needed since that they were so successful. Of the one-hundred-and-sixty-nine documented ages of pirates in the peak years, over half of them were between the ages of twenty to twenty-nine, because it was physically demanding and dangerous to work an eighteenth century