Marginalized people of the Atlantic world - Research Paper Example

Teacher’s 7 December Marginalized people in the Atlantic world took up piracy due to... As intimation to the readers, this is a research paper, being written with a view point to provide a detailed and extensive description regarding the marginalized people of the Atlantic world. This paper comprehensively states the reasons and circumstances due to which the marginalized people opt for piracy as their source of income. First of all who are these marginalized people? Since, it is implied from its name that marginalized people are those who were living on margins or on edges. Yes, these are those people who are living on the lines of Atlantic coasts. These people adopted piracy as their only source of income due to many reasons such as racism, biasness, unemployment, unstable economic conditions, governmental ambitions, and many more. This paper discusses each of these reasons in fairly manner and in the justifies the role of pirates in an efficient manner. For years, pirates were the major cause of damage to the Atlantic world. Whatever it looks now, it is because pirates have done lots of destruction in that area. Their cruelties and inhuman activities last for almost thirteen years. It was all started in the end of 17th century and in the start of 18th century. Being accurate, it began in 1715 and ended up in 1728. It might not look a huge period to the listeners or readers but it was an era of calamities and disasters for all the victims around the Atlantic world. The piracy was so voguish in that epoch that in the history that time is termed as the Golden Age of Piracy. For pirates yes it was a very blissful and harmonious period of time when they achieved almost everything they aimed for. They gathered lots of gold, silver, and other treasures for them. They were very keen and focused towards their goal of being rich as early as possible. Therefore, they have adopted the shortest and illegal way to collect money for them. Now, let us explore what piracy truly is? And what were the major problems in the Atlantic history? In general terms, Piracy is an extremely criminal activity in which pirates plunder ships and communities around a certain area. The piracy executed in the Atlantic region is remembered even today and is considered as the most terrifying act of that eon. In that area, piracy was at its peak because there were lots of opportunities for this kind of inhuman activity. All the trade from the Europe to Africa went through this passage and pirates found it an excellent occasion for themselves. This trade between Europe and Africa has truly flourished piracy in its actual means. The pirates of that area were mostly belonged to Europe i.e. from Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, and so on. Few of them were from Africa i.e. France, Portugal, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, and so on. I think that is enough of what piracy is? Now let us bend the discussion of the paper towards the other side of story and that is what made these pirates, actually pirate? And also, why those people preferred piracy as their occupation and rejected all other reputable vocations? Generally, being a common man we just comment on what happened and do not think about why this happened. Whereas there is a valid reason behind everything, that is why whenever we talk about a crime, we should keep in mind that there are few things that should not be overlooked while considering anyone a criminal. Firstly, what is the mental condition of the person who has committed the crime? Secondly, what crime has been committed and in what scenarios? And last but not the least, the location where the crime has been committed? Though laws for all sorts of crimes are there and it does not accept these things but as we are human beings, we can think the other way and thus we should keep in mind these things while coming to any decision regarding any person. There were many reasons for which people of the Atlantic world have chosen piracy as their profession instead of doing otherwise. The later part of this paper provides an apparent discussion on the issues due to which the marginalized people in the Atlantic triangle took up privacy for themselves. I have tried to identify all the major problems of Atlantic history in an organized manner and with the help of valid arguments. Let us get started from one of the major reason why piracy started in the Atlantic world and that is slavery. Most of the pirates were black slaves, who have somehow managed to escape from the North of Atlantic World. These slaves have no other choice except to become a pirate. They were fed up from the punishments and brutalities of their masters and were always in search of opportunities to get rid of their slavery. The later part of this document also shows some points from the treaty, presented by one of the slaves that clearly show the unfair attitude of masters to their slaves at that time. Thus, in those circumstances, the only opportunity they could avail was to adopt piracy. As that was the only way for them to remain unnoticed in future as well. Another factor is earning money. Since, all the pirates were from the lower middle class and thus all they want was a huge amount of money to nourish their families. The easiest and shorter way they found to become rich was piracy. They thought, this way they can serve their families better and earn a handsome amount of money for their loved ones. It is another matter, that whether they were right in their thinking or not but their lower class and extreme poverty were the significant reasons for why they became pirates. One more reason for becoming a pirate was lack of other opportunities in the Atlantic triangle. Since, the men in the Atlantic world could not manage to get any occupation with handsome earning. Moreover, those jobs that are available were not offering good remuneration and on job facilities. Also, all the jobs were not accessible for everyone due to the racism and bias behaviors of the law makers. Therefore, in those scenarios, they gave preference to join pirates’ team instead of doing any other hard work in which they were not getting any opportunity as well. Also, those who are already doing other jobs are not getting good amount of salary. They felt it hard to feed their families in such insufficiencies, so they started looting and harassing others to satisfy their detestation. Moreover, it was all get worst when people from Spain started earning lots of money and considered as wealthy men in America. Though they were doing that all legally but the Americans who thought that wealth as their rights only started developing hatred for Spanish people. Therefore, the pirates smeared all their efforts to snatch all the wealth including gold and silver from the Spanish people. They took all that back to America. These pirates, in the later years started robbing the ports in the Atlantic world as well. The main aim of those pirates was to take revenge from the Spanish people who are making enough money in their country. They have developed hatred for Spanish people and thus in return started attacking their ships to take all the money back from them by hook or by crook. After seeing the Americans, the English men also get settled in the Caribbean and started looting the Spanish ships for gold, silver and other treasury items. One of the well-known pirates or buccaneers was Francis Drake. They kept on attacking Spanish ships one after another and that results in the war known as Anglo-Spanish. Some of the pirates are appointed from the Government as well. In that time the situations are not good between the countries in the Atlantic triangle and every country always tried to give as much loss to the other country as they can. In those situations, the government has appointed their personnel in the Atlantic region to attack on enemies in the time of war and cause an excessive damage to them. Since, it is very difficult to put complete focus on that area, therefore, few of those pirates took advantage of their appointments and thus executes their attacks in the time of peace as well. The government assigned pirates thus aimed every ship passing by and looted a great amount of money for themselves apart from their salaries. Though, it is also height of injustice but again this is another side of the story and needs a separate board of discussion. Another reason for which piracy was adopted or started from the Atlantic people is injustice, racism, and certain types of attitudes with these people. These people have always deprived from their rights. There was no law ever made to control or to diminish such kinds of activities. Therefore, as a result these people started attacking the ships and the counterpart to express their hatred. They made their minds that they can take revenge from the higher class only with piracy. They not only looted all their wealth and all expensive belongings this way but also executed many inhuman activities as well in return of the biasness done with them. Also, the economic conditions of the Atlantic world was not that much stable at that time. Everyone was facing a tough time specially the middle class and the lower middle class. These people could not manage to get well-paid jobs and the only way out for them is piracy. Among all the pirates of that time, many were those who did not wanted to be a part of this job but have adopted this profession in extreme needs. Let us move towards the scenarios and examples of history that made real pirates in the Atlantic triangle and its counterparts. The later part of this paper illustrates real picture of the cruel, malicious, and bias behaviors of the law makers with poor people. As it is stated earlier that many of the pirates are those people who have escaped from slavery and did not want to go back ever. To being undetected, they become pirates. Following points of a Treaty shows a clear picture of unfair attitude with slaves. This Treaty was proposed by one of the slaves of Manoel da Silva Ferreira at time of his revolution: From the whole week, Fridays and Saturdays should be given to us for our own work. As for now these days are not given to us because these are termed as Saints’ days. We should be given the molding nets and canoes so that we can live our lives in a better way. You should not restrict us for fishing. We should be allowed to fish everywhere and not only in tidal pools. Also, we should not be restricted to fish shellfishes only. You should have a huge boat so that whenever it moves to Bahia, we should also put our cargo in it and for free. While planting manioc, we should be given a reasonable quota on daily basis such that two and one half hands for men and two hands for women. There should be reasonable quota for sugarcanes from each bundle on daily basis. We should be given permission to plant rice for ourselves wherever we want. We should be allowed to cut wood for ourselves without any accountability. We should be given permission to get relax, play, sing, and so on as per our mood swings and needs. From the above points we can easily assume that how these slaves are deprived from all their rights through the uneven behavior of their lords. We can easily see the difference of rights and actions between the two classes of people. Masters have behaved so rudely to their slaves that their slaves were compelled to prefer an escape from their slavery and join the pirates’ team for future survival. Whatever I have studied in the history regarding Atlantic world, the major problem they faced ever was piracy. Again, I must say that people took piracy for themselves in extreme conditions. One more reason for becoming a pirate was their fail dealings among themselves. It is hard to believe that those who were rude to other men and looted a large amount of ships and their counterparts can be so fair with each other. Referring to the book Major problem in Atlantic History, I once went through a chapter named as Pirates Sail Under the Jolly Roger, 1684, 1743; The Code of the Pirates Ship. After reading that chapter, I must say that those pirates were really ethical when it comes to deal within them. They divide the sum and share of each person on the board. They work on No prey, no pay basis and distribute according to their ranks. The captain gets more, then surgeon’s share is a bit lower than captain but greater than other boys in the ship and so on. They perform an absolute commitment between each other that no one will take anyone else’s share. Though they all get stick to their oath but if somehow anyone does not obey the rules, they were used to separate that pirate and turned him out of their society. The people who were already tired of the biasness of their masters and law makers found these pirates truly faithful and fair in all their endeavors. That is why they preferred to become a pirate rather than to be a slave. Pirates’ fair-mindedness and evenhandedness attracted many people towards their profession. Though it sounds strange but is a fact that the robbers of their times were excessively ethical and sprite in all their dealings within them. Conclusively, if I conclude all the incidents and reasons in a precise way I must say that there were many factors that became the causes of piracy. It was all started when the people of Atlantic region were really exhausted and whacked because of the cruel acts of their masters and law makers. They were certainly disappointed with their attitudes and in the end they found no other way to escape from that system other than piracy. Besides that the economic conditions were also there. Since, there were not good jobs for Atlantic people therefore they have no other option left for them except piracy. In their thoughts, since they were responsible to nourish their families and that could not be possible in those scenarios. So they became pirates because there were no job opportunities left for them in such economic situations. Also, the root of piracy was the rivalry of Americans and English people with Spanish ones. They started ransacking and plundering with the Spanish ships for the sake of revenge. They thought in the way they can take their money back from the Spanish people and take that to America. Another example of pirates was those who were assigned this job of piracy from the government. The main purpose is to attack the enemies in the season of wars. However, this act of piracy was continued from those pirates even in the time of peace. They tried to gather lots of silver, gold, and other treasury items and took as much advantage of their job as they can. Also, the racism between the black and white people was one of the key causes of piracy. Nothing can make a person as harder and impassive as hatred and abhorrence. Since, black people were treated very unfairly therefore; they have developed a kind of revulsion in them. They took their revenge in the form of piracy. Therefore, in my opinion I would not state that those pirates were right in all their actions and conducts but whatever they did, they have reasons for their acts. As stated earlier whenever a crime is committed there are three things to consider regarding that the mental state of the criminal, what false act he has done and the location where the crime is committed. Therefore, pirates get this edge for piracy. Their mental conditions, their acts and the place where they commit robbery forced them to do so. Refrences Alison F. Games and Adam Rothman. Major Problems in Atlantic History. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2008 Rebecca A. Simon. Archiving Early America. Web. December 8, 2012 Epic World History. Web. December 8, 2012 Barbary Coast. Web. December 8, 2012 Pirates of the Atlantic. September 3, 2003. Web. December 8, 2012 Modern World History. Web. December 8, 2012 Brittanmyc. Study Mode. May 2012. Web. December 8, 2012 Read More