I have tried to gather most of the important events of piracy throughout
history into a single time line. If you find that I have left something
important out (and as this is a first run, I'm sure I have), please feel free to
send me email using the link at the bottom of this page.
| Year |
Location |
Event |
| 1400-1300 BC |
Mediterranean |
Lukka sea raiders attack shipping from the
coast of Asia Minor |
| 1300-1200BC |
Mediterranean |
Lukka sea raiders ally with Hittites |
| 1220-1186BC |
Eastern Mediterranean |
Area controlled by the 'Sea Peoples' |
| 1000-900BC |
Mediterranean |
Minoans overrun by Dorian Greeks using Cretan
cities as pirate bases |
| 700-600BC |
Mediterranean |
Phoenician and Greek merchants attacked by
pirates |
| 500-400BC |
Mediterranean |
Athenian navy attacks Greek pirate islands
Kithnos, Mikonos and the Sporades |
| 200-100BC |
Mediterranean |
Carthaginian war distracts Rome, pirate
communities grow |
| 168BC |
Mediterranean |
Rome annexes Illyria to curb piracy |
| 67BC |
Mediterranean |
Anti-pirate campaign by Roman general Pompey
the Great eliminates Cilician sea raiders |
| 220 |
Asia |
End of the Han Dynasty, piracy flourishes |
| 1200-1300 |
Europe |
Reprisal contracts awarded to wronged
European mariners and creates privateering |
| 1203 |
Mediterranean |
Venetians fail to clear pirate bases from
Ionian Islands |
| 1217 |
Europe |
Eustace the Monk attacks shipping |
| 1241 |
Europe |
Hanseatic League formed by Baltic German
cities to suppress piracy |
| c.1300 |
Europe |
League of the Cinque Ports formed protect
English Channel from pirates |
| 1390 |
Mediterranean |
French and English fleet sets out to do
battle with African based corsairs |
| 1392 |
Europe |
Port of Bergen attacked by German pirates,
Hanseatic League stunned |
| 1573 |
Europe |
Henzlein and 32 of his crew beheaded for
piracy |
| 1400-1500 |
Mediterranean |
Barbary pirates harass shipping |
| 1400-1500 |
Asia |
Ming Dynasty regains control of Chinese
waters |
| c.1470 |
Mediterranean |
Greek Barbarossa brothers are born |
| 1500-1600 |
Asia |
Increased trade between Asia and Europe
attract pirates |
| 1520 |
Mediterranean |
Italian Ulaj Ali, born as Giovanni Dionigi |
| 1530 |
Mediterranean |
Knights of Malta are granted control of Malta
by Emporer Charles V |
| 1532 |
England |
John Hawkins is born |
| 1534 |
Mediterranean |
Albanian Murat Rais is born |
| 1540 |
England |
Francis Drake is born |
| c.1550 |
Spanish Main |
Spanish treasure ships become prime targets
for piracy |
| 1555 |
Caribbean |
French Huguenot pirates led by Jacques de
Sores capture Havana |
| 1565 |
Caribbean |
Pedro de Menendez de Avilles, wipes out
French settlement in St.Augustine, Florida |
| c.1570-90 |
Caribbean |
English attack Spanish shipping and colonies |
| 1577 |
Caribbean |
Queen Elizabeth provides financial backing
for pirates raids on Spanish |
| 1579 |
Pacific |
Francis Drake captures Cacafuego treasure
galleon |
| c.1600 |
Caribbean |
Rum invented by the Spanish in Barbados |
| c.1620 |
Caribbean |
French outlaws on Hispanola begin attacking
Spanish shipping, the birth of buccaneers |
| 1623-38 |
Caribbean |
Dutch capture about 500 Spanish and
Portuguese ships |
| 1625 |
England |
Christopher Myngs is born |
| c.1630 |
Caribbean |
Spanish fail to drive buccaneers off Tortuga
Island |
| 1641 |
Asia |
Chih Lung accepts emporer's appointment as
admiral and ends pirate career |
| c.1650 |
Mediterranean |
Barbary pirates begin to decline |
| c.1653 |
Caribbean |
French Jean "L'Olonnais" Nau begins
to attack Spanish ships |
| 1654 |
Caribbean |
Dutch Rock Braziliano arrives at Port Royal,
Jamaica |
| c.1655 |
Caribbean |
Port Royal, Jamaica becomes a haven for
buccaneers |
| c.1655 |
Caribbean |
Portuguese Bartolomeo arrives at Port Royal,
Jamaica |
| 1662 |
Caribbean |
Henry Morgan receives privateering commission |
| 1668 |
Caribbean |
Henry Morgan captures Porto Bello |
| 1671 |
Caribbean |
Henry Morgan captures Panama |
| 1670 |
Caribbean |
Spain and England sign Treaty of Madrid and
buccaneering raids decline |
| 1674 |
Caribbean |
Henry Morgan is knighted |
| 1683 |
Caribbean |
Michel de Grammont and Dutch Laurens de Graff
attack Vera Cruz |
| 1689 |
Caribbean |
Jean Du Casse and Baron Jean de Pointis
capture Cartagena |
| c.1690-1730 |
Caribbean, Atlantic, Indian |
The Golden Age of Piracy |
| 1694 |
|
Henry Every leads mutiny aboard privateer and
begins pirate career |
| 1695 |
Indian |
Thomas Tew killed in battle with Arab ship |
| c.1700 |
Caribbean, Atlantic, Indian |
Widespread usage of 'Jolly Roger' flags |
| 1701 |
England |
William Kidd executed |
| 1714 |
Europe |
End of the War of the Spanish Succession,
privateers switch over to piracy |
| c.1714 |
Caribbean |
New Providence in the Bahamas becomes a base
for pirates |
| 1716 |
Caribbean |
Edward Teach arrives in New Providence and
joins the crew of Benjamin Hornigold |
| 1717 |
Caribbean |
Stede Bonnet turns to piracy |
| 1717 |
Caribbean |
Woodes Rogers, ex-privateer made governor of
New Providence |
| 1717 |
New England |
Samuel Bellamy and crew drown after running
ship aground |
| 1718 |
Caribbean |
Charles Vane escapes New Providence on
arrival of Woodes Rogers |
| 1718 |
Atlantic |
Blackbeard dies in battle with lieutenant
Maynard near Ocracoke |
| 1720 |
Caribbean |
Jack Rackham, Anne Bonny and Mary Read tried
for piracy |
| 1720 |
Indian |
Edward England captures English East Indiaman |
| 1722 |
Atlantic |
Bartholomew Roberts killed in battle with
English warship |
| 1729 |
Indian |
African Kanhoji Angria dies and is succeeded
by his sons Sumbhaji and Mannaji |
| 1747 |
Europe |
John Paul Jones is born |
| 1775 |
Atlantic |
Beginning of American Revolution,
privateering flourishes |
| c.1800 |
Mediterranean |
Barbary pirates still operating, but only in
small groups |
| 1803 |
Mediterranean, Atlantic, Caribbean |
Napoleonic Wars begin, privateering
flourishes |
| c.1807 |
Asia |
Ching Yih forms pirate confederation
numbering over 600 ships and 150,000 men |
| 1812 |
Atlantic |
Beginning of the War of 1812, privateering
flourishes |
| c.1812 |
Caribbean |
Jean and Pierre Laffite begin operations near
New Orleans |
| c.1820 |
Caribbean |
U.S. and British navies all but eliminate
piracy in the Caribbean |
| 1820 |
Caribbean |
U.S. navy clears pirates from Galviston Bay,
they move to Cuba |
| 1821 |
Caribbean |
David Porter forms anti-pirate squadron |
| 1827 |
Atlantic |
Portuguese Benito de Soto takes over slave
ship and turns to piracy |
| 1833 |
Caribbean |
Don Pedro Gibert captured by the British and
tried in the U.S. |
| 1849 |
Asia |
British navy eliminates Shap-'ng Tsai's
pirate fleet in Hongha river delta |
| c.1850 |
Asia |
European navies eliminate piracy in Far East
and China |
