Piracy, defined as the act of attacking and robbing a ship or port by sea, had a long history in the ancient Mediterranean stretching from the time of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten (r. 1353-1336 BCE) and throughout the Middle Ages (c. 476-1500 CE). Piracy in the Mediterranean remains a persistent threat in the present day only with different kinds of ships and more advanced technology.
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Definition
Timeline
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c. 1353 BCE - c. 476 CEPiracy flourishes in the Mediterranean.
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c. 1276 BCE - 1178 BCEThe piratical Sea Peoples ravage the Mediterranean.
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c. 475 BCEAthenian general Cimon drives the Dolopian pirates out of the Aegean island of Scyros.
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231 BCE - 227 BCEThe Illyrian Pirates threaten legitimate trade during the reign of Queen Teuta.
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71 BCERome wages war on the Cretan pirates.
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69 BCE - 67 BCERome wages a second war against the Cretan pirates.
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67 BCEThe Gabinian Law is passed, giving Pompey great power to deal with pirates.
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67 BCEPompey the Great defeats the Cilician Pirates at the Battle of Coracesium.
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c. 67 CEThe Roman port of Ostia provides a base for operations against the Cilician pirates.
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c. 476 CE - 1500 CEPiracy continues to flourish in the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages.
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10 Sep 1573 CEThe notorious pirate Klein Henszlein, who raided ships on the North Sea between 1560-1573, and 33 members of his crew, are beheaded in Hamburg in modern-day Germany for their crimes and their severed heads impaled on stakes in and around the city.
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27 Jan 1671 CEThe privateer Captain Henry Morgan arrives at the gates of Panama City, launching his 1,400 troops the next day in what would become known as the Sack of Panama, Morgan's most famous raid.
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Sep 1695 CEThe English pirate Henry Every captures a treasure ship of the Mughal emperor, one of the richest prizes ever taken by a pirate in any era.
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30 Jan 1698 CEPrivateer Captain William Kidd takes the ship *Quedagh Merchant,* an Armenian owned, 400-ton vessel flying French colors. The seizure of the *Quedagh Merchant* was Kidd's greatest feat but changed Kidd's status from privateer to pirate, which is how he is known today, as Captain Kidd.
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Sep 1717 CE - Nov 1718 CEThe English pirate Blackbeard (aka Edward Teach) is active in the Caribbean and western Atlantic.
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22 Nov 1718 CEThe English pirate Blackbeard (real name, Edward Teach) is killed in the Ocracoke Inlet off the coast of North Carolina after his ship is apprehended by two sloops of British forces under the command of Lt. Robert Maynard. In the hand-to-hand fighting, Blackbeard was stabbed 20 times and shot five times before falling. He was then beheaded, and the head mounted on a pike at Chesapeake Bay.
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1765 CE - 1807 CELife of the Chinese pirate Zheng Yi (aka Cheng I).
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c. 1780 CE - c. 1821 CELife of the pirate leader Jean Lafitte who operated in the Gulf of Mexico.
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1805 CEZheng Yi (aka Cheng I) becomes the head of a large confederation of Chinese pirates.
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1807 CE - 1810 CEZheng Yi Sao leads a large confederation of Chinese pirates and terrorizes the South China Sea.
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Jul 1808 CEThe pirate fleet of Zheng Yi Sao defeats a Chinese imperial naval fleet near Canton.
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Jul 1809 CEThe pirate fleet of Zheng Yi Sao defeats a second Chinese imperial naval fleet near Canton.
