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When we think of pirates we conjure up images of Blackbeard and Captain Kidd, but these characters hailed from one period. Known as "The Golden Age of Piracy", this period only lasted around a quarter of a century - from around 1700 until 1725. Pirate expert Angus Konstam sails through the brutal history of piracy, from the pirates who plagued the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to the Viking raids on northern Europe. He then examines the West's initial encounters with Eastern pirates off the Chinese coast in the 17th century, pirates whose actions were severely hampering the West by the 19th century and finally, examining the phenomenon of the modern pirate, preying on modern super tankers.