How pirates lived. Pirates and privateers of the Mediterranean. Pirates of the Caribbean and other areas. Such robbers have also been called buccaneers, filibusters, freebooters, ladrones, pickaroons, and sea rovers.
Pirates differ from sea raiders known as privateers.
Pirates were not licensed by any nation, but privateers were licensed by a particular nation during wartime to attack enemy ships. Therefore, privateers were generally not considered pirates. Pirate Pirates have robbed ships and raided coastal towns since ancient times. The greatest period of pirate attacks, or piracy, occurred from the 1500's through the 1700's on the Mediterranean and Caribbean seas. The most famous pirates of this age included Henry Morgan, Blackbeard, and William Kidd.