Seafaring Clan (Civ6)/Civilopedia

A loosely-organized band of nomadic or raiding peoples that make their lives off of the sea, and occasionally plunder – these are pirates! The word "pirate kingdom" might conjure images of peglegs and parrots, modern-day movies and musicals, but in history pirate kingdoms (or republics) formed in lawless places on the fringes of empire, especially near lucrative trade routes, and where complicated island systems meant that those who knew the local sea well could easily hide. The Republic of Pirates, perhaps the most readily recognizable of these, was a brief-lived confederacy of pirates based in what is now the Bahamas, with pirates as famous as Mary Read, Anne Bonny, Calico Jack as well as Blackbeard himself.
But, significantly, the governor of the pirate capital at New Providence declared that he would make it a "new Madagascar." In other words, pirate states were a known, and common, and worldwide phenomenon. In Southeast Asia from the 1400s – 1800s, various lesser sultanates (especially the Sultanate of Sulu) made a living raiding shipping lanes moving through the area around eastern Indonesia and the Philippines. In the 1200-1500s, the coasts of East Asia were plagued by "Wokou," a word that means "Japanese pirates," but really referred to a multi-ethnic band of sea raiders based in the waters between Korea, China and Japan. And, of course, in east Africa, Madagascar and the Somali coast have been infamous for pirate activity – and are still.
Piracy, like many other raiding societies, requires trade. Especially in the era of European trading companies (1500s-1700s) or the sending of tribute to Ming China (1300s–1600s), profitable ships laden with treasure were moving vast distances across unguarded parts of the ocean, and the temptation to grab that treasure has appealed to people of nearly every continent.