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Without its policing influence, piracy grew rampant even in the eastern Mediterranean. Defense from pirates is frequently given as one of the reasons for cities to set up honorific decrees for individuals, as with the c. 166 BCE decree from Imbros: "Lysanias is benevolent towards the people […] he stood firm and brought news of the descent of ...
The Greek civil wars of 1824–1825 and the decline of the Hellenic Navy made the Aegean quickly become a haven for pirates who sometimes doubled as privateers. American merchant vessels were attacked and so the Mediterranean Squadron began escort and patrol duties. The operations terminated in 1828, as piracy ceased. [1] [2]
Cilician pirates dominated the Mediterranean Sea from the 2nd century BC until their suppression by Pompey in 67–66 BC. Because there were notorious pirate strongholds in Cilicia, on the southern coast of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), the term "Cilician" was long used to generically refer to any pirates in the Mediterranean.
Most pirates in this era were of Welsh, English, Dutch, Irish, and French origin. Many pirates came from poorer urban areas in search of a way to make money and of reprieve. London in particular was known for high unemployment, crowding, and poverty which drove people to piracy. Piracy also offered power and quick riches. [citation needed]
Gawalt, Gerard W. "America and the Barbary pirates: An international battle against an unconventional foe." (Library of Congress, 2011) online. London, Joshua E. Victory in Tripoli: How America's War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005. ISBN 978-0-471-44415-2; Sofka ...
The End of Barbary Terror, America's 1815 War Against the Pirates of North Africa. Oxford University Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-19-532540-9. Book (par view) Archived 2012-10-19 at the Wayback Machine; Mackenzie, Alexander Slidell (1846). Life of Stephen Decatur: a commodore in the Navy of the United States. C. C. Little and J. Brown, 1846.
The Irish Sea was infamous for being frequented by Barbary pirates, although most British captives were sailors and crews of ships around the Mediterranean. In 1620–1621, the government of James VI and I maintained long negotiations to prevent attacks, but did not succeed.
Their empire was centered on this sea and all the area was full of commerce and naval development. For the first time in history, an entire sea (the Mediterranean) was free of piracy. For several centuries, the Mediterranean was a "Roman Lake", surrounded on all sides by the empire. The empire began to crumble in the 3rd century.