Maritime piracy is when non-governmental individuals or groups raid ships for goods and money. Areas like the Strait of Malacca and Horn of Africa are targeted. The Golden Age of Piracy from 1650 to 1720 saw an increase in pirate attacks due to a lack of navy jobs. Modern pirates use weapons like the RPG-7. Enforcing piracy laws is difficult due to international aspects and the line between piracy and terrorism. Piracy causes financial loss and sometimes death. It remains a complex international crime that nations are trying to end.
Maritime piracy is defined as an offense committed aboard a ship or aircraft, by a person or group of persons who are not employees of a government agency. In the most basic terms, maritime piracy consists of raids or invasions of ships or vessels by a group of criminals called pirates. Pirates seek goods and money from their victims and most of the time they are armed and dangerous.
There is a long history of maritime piracy, with some areas of the world being targeted more than others. Places like the Strait of Malacca, which is a small body of water near Southeast Asia and Indonesia, as well as coastal areas off the Horn of Africa, tend to be targets for piracy. Although most maritime piracy incidents involve merchant vessels, there have been cases of attacks on cruise liners and personal watercraft.
Throughout history there have been time periods that tend to have more instances of maritime piracy than others, the most famous period being the Golden Age of Piracy. The Golden Age of Piracy took place from 1650 to 1720. During this period there were a number of factors driving an increase in pirate attacks. Many men had been trained in European navies, and later, when there were few navy jobs available, some of them turned to alternative methods of earning money, one of which was piracy. For these pirates, increased transportation of valuable cargo proved highly cost-effective, and many people made a living by robbing ships of valuable goods.
The goal of modern pirates hasn’t changed much since the golden age of piracy, but the methods of attacking ships have. Modern pirates are armed with weapons such as the RPG-7, a low-cost and highly effective missile launcher that can cause great damage to a ship. This is a very convincing weapon, which in many cases allows pirates easy access to ships, as merchants do not choose to retaliate.
Efforts to combat maritime piracy are always underway, even if the task is never easy, for legal and strategic reasons. Piracy laws can be difficult to enforce due to the international aspects of the crime. Indeed, there is a fine line between what some experts consider piracy and what others consider terrorism, and that alone makes maritime piracy a tricky issue.
Regardless of how people define piracy, the act of hijacking and stealing ships and other vessels causes companies to lose money and sometimes even costs innocent lives. Maritime piracy, while often glorified in the entertainment industry, is actually a complex international crime. Regardless of technical advances, piracy continues to be a type of crime that has stood the test of time and the efforts of many nations who want to see it end.
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