piracy

Table of Contents

Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

For Students

piracy summary

Read Next

Portrait of Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, image taken from A General History of the Pyrates, 1725; illustration by B. Cole. (pirates)

Pirates, Privateers, Corsairs, Buccaneers: What’s the Difference?

Black Pirates and the Tale of Black Caesar

Are There Laws on the High Seas?

Movie still, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End. (From L to R) Geoffrey Rush, Keira Knightley, and Johnny Depp. Release date 25 May 2007 (USA)

Ahoy! It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Pirate lass and her booty. A suspicious costumed 17th century styled female pirate guards a treasure chest. Trunk full of stolen jewels and gold coins. tricornered hat steal greed

Swashbuckling Sisters: 6 Lady Pirates

Discover

solar eclipse, sun, moon, astronomy, space

How Do You Tell the Difference Between Total, Annular, Solar, and Lunar Eclipses?

A Factory Interior, watercolor, pen and gray ink, graphite, and white goache on wove paper by unknown artist, c. 1871-91; in the Yale Center for British Art. Industrial Revolution England

Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution

Artist interpretation of a Space meteoroid impact. Meteor impact. Asteroid, End of the world, danger, destruction, dinosaur extinct, Judgement Day, Planet Earth, Doomsday Predictions, comet

10 Failed Doomsday Predictions

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Engraving by Cosomo Colombini (d. 1812) after a Leonardo self portrait. Ca. 1500.

10 Famous Artworks by Leonardo da Vinci

An ancient egyptian hieroglyphic painted carving showing the falcon headed god Horus seated on a throne and holding a golden fly whisk. Before him are the Pharoah Seti and the goddess Isis. Interior wall of the temple to Osiris at Abydos, Egypt.

11 Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

Adolf Hitler (Nazi, nazism, German leader).

9 Things You Might Not Know About Adolf Hitler

Queen Elizabeth II addresses at opening of Parliament. (Date unknown on photo, but may be 1958, the first time the opening of Parliament was filmed.)

All 119 References in “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Explained

History & Society

piracy

international law

Written by John Philip Jenkins

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Apr 10, 2024 • Article History

piracy

See all media

Category: History & Society

Key People:: Zheng Chenggong; Mary Read; Anne Bonny; William Kidd; Blackbeard

Related Topics:: maritime law; hijacking; buccaneer; wakō; Barbary pirate

On the Web:: American Society of International Law - International Piracy (Apr. 10, 2024)

See all related content →

piracy, any robbery or other violent action, for private ends and without authorization by public authority, committed on the seas or in the air outside the normal jurisdiction of any state. Because piracy has been regarded as an offense against the law of nations, the public vessels of any state have been permitted to seize a pirate ship, to bring it into port, to try the crew (regardless of their nationality or domicile), and, if they are found guilty, to punish them and to confiscate the ship. According to international law, piracy takes place outside the normal jurisdiction of a ...(100 of 794 words)

Access the full article

Help support true facts by becoming a member.