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=__Privateers and England__= by Dave Griffin //**What is a privateer?**// A privateer is a govenment supported vessel or sailor who has the objective of attacking and/or stealing from other nations ships.

The first license for a privateer, a letter of marque, was issued in 1354. A letter of marque allows privateers of England to capture enemy ships and have them sold. While the first officialized privateers came from England, they were inspired by the ruthless piracy culture of the Vikings who's sense of community was centered around pillaging and taking from others. The first batch of English privateers was small starting with only a few vessels. They would intercept traders mostly from France and Spain. The principal behind the legality was the economic gain both England and the Royal Court would acquire as well as a the loss of other rival countries.
 * The Begining**

Around the middle of the 1500s the British saw the much needed potential for privateers. With the increase of colonialism in a number of enemy countries in Europe, England thought it would be wise to bolster their privateer numbers. With this new loosely contracted fleet of mercenaries the British were able to intercept many Spanish ships headed from the Caribbean to the Lisbon or Seville. These ships were often loaded down with gold, silver, rum, sugar and other valuable comodities. After imprisoning or killing the enemy crew, the British privateers would take the ship back to England where it would be auctioned off. A portion of their loot went to the crown as a tax.
 * The Golden Age**

With the obvious success of the English other countries such as Spain, Portugal, France and eventually the Thirteen Colonies employed their own privateers who often would sail with convoys of merchant ships to protect them. This abundance of privateers led to a highly romanticized era of seafaring. The pirates and privateers of this era are often those used in popular culture. Because of the lucrative sugar trade there were dozens, sometimes hundreds of privateers roaming around the Caribbean. The Caribbean also played an important role in trade because of its strategic positioning in relation to South America.



Although he was also known for his slaver and politician careers, Sir Francis Drake is most commonly known for his career as a privateer from the 16th century. Because he had sailing experience and was connected to the Elizabeth the First he was given two small ships and asked to intercept treasure fleets in the Carribean. Despite sustaining several large wounds he stayed there for several years, stealing ships and wealth from the Spanish. With the help of the French, Drake captured one fleet of Spanish treasure ships that were carrying over 20 pounds of silver and gold. After taking the loot, Francis killed his French ally and buried the wealth. Throughout his sailing career Drake was one of the most feared privateers as well as sailors.
 * Sir Francis Drake**

[[image:http://content.answcdn.com/main/content/img/webpics/Sir_Francis_Drake.jpg width="145" height="198" caption="Sir Francis Drake"]]
After the Revolutionary war and later the War of 1812, the amount of privateering diminished significantly. This was do to an improved protection system for sea travel. One privateer was not able to capture an armada of trade ships no longer. Other reasons include a lessening of American colonization as well as a lower profit margin. Because the English government was partially funding these expeditions but not making money they decided to taper off the program. Eventually the major countries convened to create the Paris Declaration of 1856 which abolished privateering all together.
 * The End Of Privateers**

Besides the obvious, privateers are an example of a globalized economy. The fact that countries will support pirating to steal from other countries, although malicious, shows that the global wealth network was prominent enough for a majority of powerful countries to care. Another reason privateers are important is they represent an arms race. If countries continuoussly amass weapons and weapons technology then it shows they are starting an arms race. Similar connections can be made to seperate periods of history like the Cold War. Overall though, privateers are just a really cool facet of their period of history.
 * Why are Privateers that important to World History?**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1vIMZMUazM Video about Privateers

Bibliography:
 * Pirate History** http://www.privateerdragons.com/pirates_famous.html (december 14th, 2011)
 * Letter of Marque** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque (december 14th, 2011)
 * Sir Francis Drake** http://www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/d/drake.shtml (december 14th, 2011)
 * Pirates, Terror on the High Seas from the Caribbean to the South China Sea**, Cordingly, David. publish 1998 by JG press