When was the Golden Age of Piracy?
Golden Age of Piracy
The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation given to usually one or more outbursts of piracy in the maritime history of the early modern period. In its broadest accepted definition, the Golden Age of Piracy spans the 1650s to the late 1720s and covers three separate outbursts of piracy:
Governance in 18th-century piracy
The English ruling class recognized the influence of Libertalia and its alternative social order, and they soon put their efforts into quashing it. There were worries of a pirate “Commonwealth” (such as the one Barrow and Hornigold set up), especially one in areas where no nation would be able to fight them. English rulers responded by hanging sea robbers by the hundreds, and the English Parliament passed new legislation persecuting pirates. Finally, with the hanging of Captain Bartholomew Roberts’ men at Cape Coast Castle on the African coast in 1722, the Golden Age of Piracy was brought to an end.