Piracy has existed the world over for hundreds of years. However, the Golden Age of Piracy only lasted from the late 1600�s to about 1722- just over thirty years. Most of the pirates were operating somewhere in the Caribbean. During this time the sea was full of pirates, privateers, buccaneers, and corsairs.
There are many little known differences between these groups. Privateers were hired by the government to hunt down and capture enemy ships. This avoided the cost of building and upkeep on a navy. Privateers carried a letter of marque, which theoretically meant that they could not be captured and tried in other countries. Most countries ignored this rule, however. Many privateers turned out-and-out pirate during times of peace, or when they did not care to bring their plunder before an admiralty court to be shared with the crown. Buccaneers, on the other hand, were hunters of cattle and pigs in Haiti. They were driven out by the Spanish, and banded together to seek revenge by attacking Spanish ships. The name �buccaneer�, which is French for �dryer of beef�, later came to mean any pirate in the West Indies. Corsairs only operated in the Mediterranean. Like privateers, they were hired by their government. However, corsairs were only to attack the shipping lanes of Christian countries. Their fight for religion did not last very long, as they soon turned into full-fledged pirates.
