For decades, pirates have been key figures in tales of danger, adventure and mayhem. Movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and Treasure Island make it hard to separate reality from fantasy. But the true life of an 18th-century pirate was pretty grim, and revolved around staggering violence and poverty, constant danger and most likely, death. The period of the late 1600s to the early 1700s is referred to as the “Golden Age of Piracy”—though pirates existed long before and after this time. The pirates of that era were mostly looking for silver and gold, but they mostly pillaged and stole goods like grain, molasses, and kegs of rum from merchant ships.
Though Captain Hook and Long John Silver did not exist, many other infamous pirates did, and they played a major role in shaping Western history. Likewise, much of pirate lore involves myths or tropes, such as buried treasure and walking the plank. But some stories hold true.
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