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Pirates, The Comprehensive 12-Part Documentary Series History Of Piracy, Spanning The Likes Of The Fearsome Rogue Blackbeard To Hero Privateer Of The British Crown Sir Francis Drake And The Grey Zone Sea Of Legality And Illegality Between Them That Was The Golden Age Of Piracy! The Buccaneers Of The Caribbean And Their Legal And Illegal Activities For And Against The British And Spanish Crowns; The Barbary Corsairs Of The Mediterranean And Their Most Famous Slave Who Authored Don Quixote To Buy His Feedom, Miguel de Cervantes; The Asian Pirates Of The South China Sea And The Beautiful, Shrewd And Deadly Prostitute War Leader Zheng Yi Sao Of The Red Flag Fleet; Famous Female Pirates Like Anne Bonny And Mary Read, Who Dressed, Acted And Fought Like Men; The Slave Trade Of The Barbary Pirates And The African Atlantic Slave Trade; Pirates And Privateers That Had The Gift Of Piracy, Like Welshman Bartholomew Roberts, And Those That Did Not, Like The Unfairly Maligned Yet Incompetent Scotsman Captain Kidd; The Fearsome And Brutal Norseman Whose Very Name "Vikings" Meant "Pirate"; Ancient Pirates Like History's First Pirate Chief, The Beautiful, Shrewd And Cruel Queen Teuta Of Illyria, On The Balkan Peninsula's Adriatic Coast; And Much Much More! Set Sail On All Of The Seven Seas Through 3 Volumes Of 12 Documentary Episodes Narrated By Veteran Documentary Host Colgate Salsbury, Presented In The Highest DVD Quality MPG Video Format Of 9.1 MBPS In An MP4 Video Download Or Archival Quality 3 Disc All Regions Format DVD Set! (Color, 1993, 12 Episodes Of 23 Minutes Each)
Contents:
VOLUME ONE:
Epi. 1: The Pirates Of The North (The Vikings: Olaf Tryggvason, Snorri Sturluson, Sunstone)
Epi. 2: The Buccaneers (Pierre Le Grand, Henry Morgan, Alexandre Exquemelin)
Epi. 3: Pirates Of The Pacific (Sir Francis Drake, Thomas Cavendish, William Dampier)
Epi. 4: Pirates Of The Indian Ocean (Adam Baldridge, Henry Every)
VOLUME TWO:
Epi. 5: Women Pirates (Rachel Wall, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Calico Jack (John Rackham)
Epi. 6: The Gift Of Piracy (Bartholomew Roberts, William Kidd (Captain Kidd))
Epi. 7: The Barbary Corsairs (Brothers Hayreddin Barbarossa And Oruc Reis, John Ward (Jack Ward or Birdy, inspiration for "Captain Jack Sparrow"), Sir Henry Mainwaring, Miguel de Cervantes)
Epi. 8: Pirates Of The South China Seas (Zheng Zhilong (Nicholas Iquan Gaspard), Koxinga, Zheng Yi Sao And The Red Flag Fleet)
VOLUME THREE:
Epi. 9: Pirates And Privateers (Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Walter Raleigh)
Epi. 10: Black Hearts, Black Ivory: Pirates And The Slave Trade (Sir John Hawkins, Prince Henry the Navigator, Bartholomew Roberts, The Nation States Of Europe, The King Of Dahomey, The Maroons (Jamaicans), Queen Nanny of the Maroons), Nathaniel Gordon)
Epi. 11: On The Pirate Wind (Sir Francis Drake, Blackbeard (Edward Teach))
Epi. 12: Ancient Pirates (Queen Teuta, Julius Caesar's Abduction By And Retribution Against Pirates, Pompey, Romanticization Of Pirates In The Hellenistic World)
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, vessels used for piracy are pirate ships. The earliest documented instances of piracy were in the 14th century BC, when the Sea Peoples, a group of ocean raiders, attacked the ships of the Aegean and Mediterranean civilisations. Narrow channels which funnel shipping into predictable routes have long created opportunities for piracy, as well as for privateering and commerce raiding. Historic examples include the waters of Gibraltar, the Strait of Malacca, Madagascar, the Gulf of Aden, and the English Channel, whose geographic structures facilitated pirate attacks. The term piracy generally refers to maritime piracy, although the term has been generalized to refer to acts committed on land, in the air, on computer networks, and (in science fiction), outer space. Piracy usually excludes crimes committed by the perpetrator on their own vessel (e.g. theft), as well as privateering, which implies authorization by a state government. Piracy or pirating is the name of a specific crime under customary international law and also the name of a number of crimes under the municipal law of a number of states. In the early 21st century, seaborne piracy against transport vessels remains a significant issue (with estimated worldwide losses of US$16 billion per year in 2004), particularly in the waters between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, off the Somali coast, and also in the Strait of Malacca and Singapore. Modern-day pirates are armed with automatic weapons, such as assault rifles, and machine guns, grenades and rocket propelled grenades. They often use small motorboats to attack and board ships, a tactic that takes advantage of the small number of crew members on modern cargo vessels and transport ships. The international community is facing many challenges in bringing modern pirates to justice, as these attacks often occur in international waters. Nations have used their naval forces to repel and pursue pirates, and some private vessels use armed security guards, high-pressure water cannons, or sound cannons to repel boarders, and use radar to avoid potential threats. Romanticised accounts of piracy during the Age of Sail have long been a part of Western pop culture. The two-volume A General History of the Pyrates, published in London in 1724, is generally credited with bringing key piratical figures and a semi-accurate description of their milieu in the "Golden Age Of Piracy" to the public's imagination. The General History inspired and informed many later fictional depictions of piracy, most notably the novels Treasure Island (1883) and Peter Pan (1911), both of which have been adapted and readapted for stage, film, television, and other media across over a century. More recently, pirates of the "golden age" were further stereotyped and popularized by the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, which began in 2003. The English word "pirate" is derived from the Latin pirata ("pirate, corsair, sea robber"), which comes from Greek peirates, "brigand", in turn from peiraomai, "I attempt", from peira, "attempt, experience". The meaning of the Greek word peirates literally is "anyone who attempts something". Over time it came to be used of anyone who engaged in robbery or brigandry on land or sea. The term first appeared in English c. 1300. Spelling did not become standardised until the eighteenth century, and spellings such as "pirrot", "pyrate" and "pyrat" occurred until this period.
The Golden Age Of Piracy is a common designation for the period between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, the Indian Ocean, North America, and West Africa. Histories of piracy often subdivide the Golden Age Of Piracy into three periods: 1) The buccaneering period (approximately 1650 to 1680), characterized by Anglo-French seamen based in Jamaica and Tortuga attacking Spanish colonies, and shipping in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific; 2) The Pirate Round (1690s), associated with long-distance voyages from the Americas to rob Muslim and East India Company targets in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea; and 3) The post-Spanish Succession period (1715 to 1726), when Anglo-American sailors and privateers left unemployed by the end of the War of the Spanish Succession turned en masse to piracy in the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the North American eastern seaboard, and the West African coast. Narrower definitions of the Golden Age sometimes exclude the first or second periods, but most include at least some portion of the third. The modern conception of pirates as depicted in popular culture is derived largely, although not always accurately, from the Golden Age Of Piracy. Factors contributing to piracy during the Golden Age included the rise in quantities of valuable cargoes being shipped to Europe over vast ocean areas, reduced European navies in certain regions, the training and experience that many sailors had gained in European navies (particularly the British Royal Navy), and corrupt and ineffective government in European overseas colonies. Colonial powers at the time constantly fought with pirates and engaged in several notable battles and other related events.
A Privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or delegated authority issued commissions, also referred to as a letter of marque, during wartime. The commission empowered the holder to carry on all forms of hostility permissible at sea by the usages of war. This included attacking foreign vessels and taking them as prizes, and taking prize crews as prisoners for exchange. Captured ships were subject to condemnation and sale under prize law, with the proceeds divided by percentage between the privateer's sponsors, shipowners, captains and crew. A percentage share usually went to the issuer of the commission (i.e. the sovereign). Privateering allowed sovereigns to raise revenue for war by mobilizing privately owned armed ships and sailors to supplement state power. For participants, privateering provided the potential for a greater income and profit than obtainable as a merchant seafarer or fisher. However, this incentive increased the risk of privateers turning to piracy when war ended. The commission usually protected privateers from accusations of piracy, but in practice the historical legality and status of privateers could be vague. Depending on the specific sovereign and the time period, commissions might be issued hastily; privateers might take actions beyond what was authorized in the commission, including after its expiry. A privateer who continued raiding after the expiration of a commission or the signing of a peace treaty could face accusations of piracy. The risk of piracy and the emergence of the modern state system of centralised military control caused the decline of privateering by the end of the 19th century.
Buccaneers were a kind of privateers or free sailors particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from the Restoration in 1660 until about 1688, during a time when governments were not strong enough and did not consistently attempt to suppress them. Originally the name applied to the landless hunters of wild boars and cattle in the largely uninhabited areas of Tortuga and Hispaniola. The meat they caught was smoked over a slow fire in little huts the French called boucans to make viande boucanee - jerked meat or jerky - which they sold to the corsairs who preyed on the (largely Spanish) shipping and settlements of the Caribbean. Eventually the term was applied to the corsairs and (later) privateers themselves, also known as the Brethren of the Coast. Though corsairs, also known as filibusters or freebooters, were largely lawless, privateers were nominally licensed by the authorities - first the French, later the English and Dutch - to prey on the Spanish, until their depredations became so severe they were suppressed. The term buccaneer was taken from the Spanish bucanero and derives from the Caribbean Arawak word buccan, a wooden frame on which Tainos and Caribs slowly roasted or smoked meat, commonly manatee. From it derived the French word boucan and hence the name boucanier for French hunters who used such frames to smoke meat from feral cattle and pigs on Hispaniola. English colonists anglicised the word boucanier to buccaneer.
Women In Piracy: Although the majority of pirates in history have been men, there are around a hundred known examples of female pirates, about forty of whom were active in the Golden Age Of Piracy. Some women have been pirate captains and some have commanded entire pirate fleets. Among the most powerful pirate women were figures such as Zheng Yi Sao (1775-1844) and Huang Bamei (1906-1982), both of whom led tens of thousands of pirates. In addition to the few that were pirates themselves, women have also historically been more heavily involved in piracy through secondary roles, interacting with pirates through being smugglers, lenders of money, purchasers of stolen goods, tavern keepers and prostitutes, and through having been family members of both pirates and victims. Some women also married pirates and turned their homes or establishments into piratical safe havens. Through women in these secondary roles, pirates were strongly supported by the agency of women. Some influential women, including monarchs such as Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558-1603), have also acted as powerful patrons of pirates. Although they have received little academic attention, women still occupy these important secondary roles in contemporary piracy. Piracy off the coast of Somalia is for instance supported to a large extent by on-shore women who participate in transportation, housing and recruitment. Seafaring in general has historically been a highly masculine-gendered activity. Women who became pirates at times disguised themselves as men in order to do so since they were otherwise rarely allowed on pirate ships. On many ships in the Golden Age Of Piracy, women were prohibited by the ship's contract (required to be signed by all crew members) due to being seen as bad luck and due to fears that the male crew members would fight over the women. Many famous female pirates, such as Anne Bonny (1697-?) and Mary Read (1685-1721), accordingly dressed and acted as men. Since the gender of many pirate women was only exposed after they were caught, it is possible that there were more women in piracy than is otherwise indicated by surviving sources. In addition to historical female pirates, women in piracy have also frequently appeared in legends and folklore. The earliest legendary female pirate is perhaps Atalanta of Greek mythology, who according to legend joined the Argonauts in the years before the Trojan War. Scandinavian folklore and mythology, though the tales themselves are unverified, includes numerous female warriors (shield-maidens) who command ships and fleets. Female pirates have had varying roles in modern fiction, often reflecting cultural norms and traditions. Beginning in the 20th century, fictional pirate women have sometimes been romanticized as symbols of female liberty.
The Barbary Pirates, Barbary Corsairs, or Ottoman Corsairs were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Sale, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast, in reference to the Berbers. Their predation extended throughout the Mediterranean, south along West Africa's Atlantic seaboard and into the North Atlantic as far north as Iceland, but they primarily operated in the western Mediterranean. In addition to seizing merchant ships, they engaged in Razzias, raids on European coastal towns and villages, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also in the British Isles, the Netherlands, and Iceland. The main purpose of their attacks was to capture slaves for the Ottoman slave trade as well as the general Arab slavery market in North Africa and the Middle East. Slaves in Barbary could be of many ethnicities, and of many different religions, such as Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. While such raids had occurred since soon after the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the 710s, the terms "Barbary pirates" and "Barbary corsairs" are normally applied to the raiders active from the 16th century onwards, when the frequency and range of the slavers' attacks increased. In that period, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli came under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, either as directly administered provinces or as autonomous dependencies known as the Barbary states. Similar raids were undertaken from Sale (see Sale Rovers) and other ports in Morocco. Barbary corsairs captured thousands of merchant ships and repeatedly raided coastal towns. As a result, residents abandoned their former villages of long stretches of coast in Spain and Italy. Between 100,000 and 250,000 Iberians were enslaved by these raids. The raids were such a problem that coastal settlements were seldom undertaken until the 19th century. Between 1580 and 1680 corsairs were said to have captured about 850,000 people as slaves and from 1530 to 1780 as many as 1.25 million people were enslaved. However, these numbers have been questioned by the historian David Earle. Some of these corsairs were European outcasts and converts (renegade) such as John Ward and Zymen Danseker. Hayreddin Barbarossa and Oruc Reis, Turkish Barbarossa brothers, who took control of Algiers on behalf of the Ottomans in the early 16th century, were also notorious corsairs. The European pirates brought advanced sailing and shipbuilding techniques to the Barbary Coast around 1600, which enabled the corsairs to extend their activities into the Atlantic Ocean. The effects of the Barbary raids peaked in the early-to-mid-17th century. Long after Europeans had abandoned oar-driven vessels in favor of sailing ships carrying tons of powerful cannon, many Barbary warships were galleys carrying a hundred or more fighting men armed with cutlasses and small arms. The Barbary navies were not battle fleets. When they sighted a European frigate, they fled. The scope of corsair activity began to diminish in the latter part of the 17th century, as the more powerful European navies started to compel the Barbary States to make peace and cease attacking their shipping. However, the ships and coasts of Christian states without such effective protection continued to suffer until the early 19th century. Between 1801 and 1815, occasional incidents occurred, including two Barbary wars waged by the United States, Sweden and the Kingdom of Sicily against the Barbary States. Following the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15, European powers agreed upon the need to suppress the Barbary corsairs entirely. The threat was finally subdued by the French conquest of Algeria in 1830 and subsequent pacification by the French during the mid-to-late 19th century.
Pirates Of The South China Seas: The Pirates Of The South China Coast (Traditional Chinese: Pinyin: Hua Nan Aai Dao) were Chinese pirates who were active throughout the South China Sea from the late 18th century to the 19th century, mainly from 1790 to 1810. After 1805, the Pirates Of The South China Coast entered their most powerful period. Many pirates were fully trained by the Tay Son dynasty of Vietnam. Since the late 18th century, with the increase of the population, land annexation was becoming serious day by day. Many farmers lost their land, they became brigands or pirates. Giang Binh was known as pirate hotbed at that time. In early times, most of Chinese pirates were fishmen. They came to Giang Binh by boats to do business, though the private maritime trade was restricted by Chinese government. Giang Binh located near China-Vietnam border; it belonged to Vietnam since Ly dynasty, later, it was ceded to China after the end of the Sino-French War, present-day it was known as Jiangping Town, in Dongxing, Fangchenggang, Guangxi, China. Giang Binh was a melting pot of Vietnamese and Chinese, it was a strategically located; however, this area was neglected by Vietnamese government. Tay Son Rebellion broke out in Southern Vietnam in 1771. The rebellion soon swept Nguyen lords and Trinh lords out of power. Many Chinese pirates were hired and joined the civil war. Tap Dinh and Ly Tai became generals of Tay Son army. He Xiwen (Ha Hi Van) became a general of Nguyen Anh. Nguyen Hue, one of Tay Son leaders, crowned the Quang Trung Emperor, and defeated the invading Chinese army in 1789. After the battle, Hue reconciled with China, however, he waited for an opportunity to take revenge on China. He provided money to Chinese pirates. Three prominent pirates, Chen Tianbao, Mo Guanfu and Zheng Qi, were ordered to hire more pirates. Since 1790, the number of Chinese pirates grew rapidly. Most of them pledged loyalty to Tay Son dynasty, and were fully trained. Many pirates were granted official positions. They were able to block sea routes, and harassed the coastlines of South China (Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu) frequently. Later, they also took part in all important naval battle against Nguyen Anh. In 1801, Nguyen navy reached Phu Xuan, a naval battle broke out in Non estuary (present-day Thuan An estuary). Many Chinese pirates were hired by Tay Son to fight against Nguyen lord. Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau described that it was the fiercest battle in the history of Cochinchina. The battle ended with a near annihilation of both Tay Son navy and Chinese pirates. Three important pirates, Mo Guanfu, Liang Wengeng and Fan Wencai, were captured by Nguyen lord. Emperor Canh Thinh fled to Thang Long (present-day Hanoi), in there, he planned a counter-attack. Most of pirates did not supported Tay Son dynasty, they fled back to China secretly. Chen Tianbao fled to Guangdong and surrendered to China. Zheng Qi still pledged loyalty to Emperor Canh Thinh. In 1802, he arrived at Thang Long. He was appointed as Dai Tu Ma ("Grand Marshal") by Canh Thinh. Zheng Qi get involved in the siege of Dong Hoi, but his fleet was defeated in the mouth of Nhat Le River. Tay Son dynasty was overthrown by Nguyen dynasty. Unlike Tay Son emperors, the new crowned Gia Long started to suppress the pirates. In September 1802, Nguyen army destroyed the pirates' lair in Giang Binh, captured Zheng Qi and had him executed.
Lieutenant Turner and the crew of the ship Tay, made prisoners by the Ladrone Pirates After this incident, Chinese pirates had to flee to Guangdong. To compete for turf, they attacked each other. Finally, they found it would just destroy themselves. In 1805, seven pirate leaders made an agreement, a pirate alliance was founded. Seven leaders were: Zheng Yi (Red Flag Fleet), Guo Podai (Black Flag Fleet), Liang Bao (White Flag Fleet), Jin Guyang (Green Flag Fleet), Wu Shi'er (Blue Flag Fleet), Wu Zhiqing (Yellow Flag Fleet) and Zheng Laotong. Not long after, Zheng Laotong surrendered to Chinese government, actually there were six gangs joined the alliance. The Red Flag Fleet led by Zheng Yi was the strongest gang in the alliance, as a matter of course, he was selected the leader of the alliance. Ladrones Islands (present-day Wanshan Archipelago), Hong Kong and Leizhou Peninsula became pirate hotbeds. Zheng Yi died suddenly in Vietnam on 16 November 1807. His widow Ching Shih, became new leaders of Red Flag Fleet. Later, Ching Shih married with adoptive son Cheung Po Tsai, Cheung succeeded the leaders and leader of the alliance. It made Guo Podai resentful. Now Red Flag Fleet had 30,000 men and several hundred vessels, it became a big threat to Qing China and Portuguese Macau. In September 1809, Cheung was attacked by Portuguese Navy in the Tiger's Mouth. In November, Cheung was besieged by Chinese-Portuguese Navy in Chek Lap Kok. Cheung asked for Guo Podai's help, however, Guo refused. In a day of fog, Cheung fled from the battlefield. He was furious at Guo and vowed revenge on him. A navy battle between Red Flag Fleet and Chinese navy broke out in December, in the battle, Cheung was ambushed by Guo's Black Flag Fleet, and defeated. Several vessels of Cheung were captured by Guo. After the battle, Guo surrendered to Chinese government, Guo became an official of Chinese navy. Hearing the news, Cheung refused to surrender. However, more and more pirates surrendered. In January 1810, Cheung was persuaded to surrender. He delivered his fleet and weapons on 20 April. Cheung became a Chinese naval officer. On 24 May, Chinese-Vietnamese navy were dispatched to suppress the remnants of pirates. Cheung and Guo took part in the battle. The main part of pirate fleet was destroyed in the battle. It marked the end of Chinese pirates' era; nevertheless, Chinese pirates defeated the Portuguese in the Ningpo massacre on June 26, 1857.
Vikings is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and settled throughout parts of Europe. They also voyaged as far as the Mediterranean, North Africa, Volga Bulgaria, the Middle East, and North America. In some of the countries they raided and settled in, this period is popularly known as the Viking Age, and the term "Viking" also commonly includes the inhabitants of the Scandinavian homelands as a collective whole. The Vikings had a profound impact on the early medieval history of Scandinavia, the British Isles, France, Estonia, and Kievan Rus'. Expert sailors and navigators aboard their characteristic longships, Vikings established Norse settlements and governments in the British Isles, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, Normandy, and the Baltic coast, as well as along the Dnieper and Volga trade routes across modern-day Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, where they were also known as Varangians. The Normans, Norse-Gaels, Rus' people, Faroese and Icelanders emerged from these Norse colonies. At one point, a group of Rus Vikings went so far south that, after briefly being bodyguards for the Byzantine emperor, attacked the Byzantine city of Constantinople. Vikings also voyaged to Iran and Arabia. They were the first Europeans to reach North America, briefly settling in Newfoundland (Vinland). While spreading Norse culture to foreign lands, they simultaneously brought home slaves, concubines and foreign cultural influences to Scandinavia, influencing the genetic and historical development of both. During the Viking Age, the Norse homelands were gradually consolidated from smaller kingdoms into three larger kingdoms: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The Vikings spoke Old Norse and made inscriptions in runes. For most of the period they followed the Old Norse religion, but later became Christians. The Vikings had their own laws, art and architecture. Most Vikings were also farmers, fishermen, craftsmen and traders. Popular conceptions of the Vikings often strongly differ from the complex, advanced civilisation of the Norsemen that emerges from archaeology and historical sources. A romanticised picture of Vikings as noble savages began to emerge in the 18th century; this developed and became widely propagated during the 19th-century Viking revival. Perceived views of the Vikings as violent, piratical heathens or as intrepid adventurers owe much to conflicting varieties of the modern Viking myth that had taken shape by the early 20th century. Current popular representations of the Vikings are typically based on cultural cliches and stereotypes, complicating modern appreciation of the Viking legacy. These representations are rarely accurate-for example, there is no evidence that they wore horned helmets, a costume element that first appeared in Wagnerian opera. The etymology of "Viking" is uncertain. In the Middle Ages it came to mean Scandinavian pirate or raider. The Anglo-Saxons regarded the word wicing as synonymous with pirate and in several Old English sources wicing is translated into the Latin pirata. It was not seen as a reference to nationality, with other terms such as Northmenn (Northmen) and Dene (Danes) being used for that. In Asser's Life of Alfred the Danes are referred to as pagani (pagans), but this is usually translated as 'Vikings', in modern English, which some regard as a mistake. The earliest reference to wicing in English sources is from the Epinal-Erfurt glossary which dates to around 700, whereas the first known attack by Viking raiders in England at Lindisfarne was in 793.