Piracy's Golden Age Fed Corruption

The Golden Age of Piracy, which ran roughly from the 1650s to the 1730s, grew out of expanding ocean trade, weaker European naval patrols, and corruption in overseas colonies. European empires shipped more valuable cargo across huge Atlantic and Indian Ocean routes, creating rich targets that local authorities could not always protect. After major wars ended, many unemployed sailors turned to piracy while reduced navies left fewer warships available to hunt them. Corrupt colonial officials then made the problem worse by tolerating pirates, trading with them, or accepting bribes while pirate havens grew in places such as the Caribbean.

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