Between 1706 and 1718, a group of pirates established a haven in the Bahamas.

Using a system of rules that they developed themselves, the pirates created their own forms of

self-governance to maintain an order within a society that was otherwise lawless.

This grew into a community of thousands of pirates before the British put an end to it.

Learn more about the Republic of Pirates and how it's functioned on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. The Republic of Pirates was a loose alliance of pirates

operating out of the Bahamas from 1706 to 1718.

The members of this Republic were able to raid and plunder pretty much at will,

creating what is today known as

the golden age of piracy. But how did this happen? How did a bunch of pirates operating outside the

law managed to create their own quasi-society? To understand this, we need to go back in time to

the 16th and 17th centuries. Throughout the 1500s, Spain had conquered

and controlled most of the Americas. With this territory, they had become exceedingly wealthy,

and they had almost single-handedly doubled the amount of precious metals such as gold and silver

circulating in Europe. Other nations, such as Britain and France, coveted this lucrative trade and began to encroach

on the islands in the Caribbean.

By the 1630s and 40s, both Britain and France had claimed some islands in the Caribbean, leading

to wars between the European powers.

During this time, these countries would hire privateers, who are persons or vessels granted permission

by a government to raid enemy ships during wartime. The benefit of hiring privateers is that the

Navy could focus his attention on enemy ships, whereas the privateers could engage in attacking

enemy commerce. This would allow the government to save money by not needing to pay for a larger

navy and instead profiting from the loot of the privateers. Privateers would be contracted with

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