PIRATES!! 
Piracy is robbery committed at sea, or sometimes on the shore, by an agent without a commission from a sovereign nation. One who commits piracy by engaging in robbery, pillaging, or plundering at sea is known as a pirate. Seaborne piracy against transport vessels remains a significant issue (with estimated worldwide losses of US$13 to $16 billion per year[1]), particularly in the waters between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, off the Somali coast, and in the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, which are used by over 50,000 commercial ships a year. A recent surge in piracy off the Somali coast spurred a multi-national effort led by the United States to patrol the waters near the Horn of Africa to combat piracy. While boats off the coasts of South America and the Mediterranean Sea are still assailed by pirates, the advent of the United States Coast Guard has nearly eradicated piracy in U.S. waters and the Caribbean Sea. The Jolly Roger is the traditional flag of European and American pirates.
The earliest documented incidence of piracy are the exploits of the Sea Peoples who threatened the Aegean in the 13th century BC. In Classical Antiquity, the Tyrrhenians and Thracians were known as pirates. The island of Lemnos long resisted Greek influence and remained a haven for Thracian pirates. The Latin term pirata, from which the English "pirate" is derived, derives ultimately from Greek peira "attack, attempt", cognate to peril. By the 1st century BC, there were pirate states along the Anatolian coast, threatening the commerce of the Roman Empire. When Sulla died in 78 BC, Julius Caesar returned to Rome as a lawyer, prosecuted Sulla's supporters, and headed to the Greek town of Rhodes to study oratory. Pirates seized control of the vessel in 75 BC, kidnapped Caesar, and held him for ransom. After purchasing his freedom, he assembled a small army which captured the pirates and crucified them. The Senate finally invested Pompey with special powers to deal with piracy in 67 BC (the Lex Gabinia), and Pompey after three months of naval warfare managed to suppress the threat. In the 3rd century, pirate attacks on Olympus (city in Anatolia) brought impoverishment.
Among some of the most famous ancient pirateering peoples were the Illyrians, populating the western Balkan peninsula. Constantly raiding the Adriatic Sea, the Illyrians caused many conficts with the Roman Republic. It was not until 68 BC that the Romans finally conquered Illyria and made it a province, ending their threat.
Early Polynesian warriors attacked seaside and riverside villages. They used the sea for their hit-and-run tactics - a safe place to retreat to if the battle turned against them.
The great or classic era of piracy in the Caribbean extends from around 1560 up until the end of the Golden Age of Piracy in the 1730s. The period during which pirates were most successful was from the 1640s until the 1680s. Caribbean piracy arose out of, and mirrored on a smaller scale, the conflicts over trade and colonization among the rival European powers of the time, including England, Spain, Dutch United Provinces, and France. Two of the best-known pirate bases were Tortuga in the 1640s and Port Royal after 1655. One of the last famous pirates of the Caribbean was Cofres??: Roberto Cofres?? Ramirez de Arellano (1791-1825). He was put to death for his crimes in Puerto Rico at the Castle of San Felipe del Morro. His romantic legend inspires plays and songs on the island.
PIRATES!!!!
P.S. I thread-jacked this becuase it has to talked to death and there is no need to add a new topic.The whole Aang's fire-bender teacher thing, not the pirates.
Edited on 10/23/2006 5:03pm
