The Elizabethan Age and the 17th century were periods of discoveries and adventures. The famous English Navy had started trading with the western
The years between 1620 and 1720are called the Golden Age of Piracy.
There were different types of pirates, depending on their relationship with the government.
The Privateers were legal pirates authorised by their government to attack and rob ships of enemy nations. A key (=chiave) distinction between a Merchant and Privateer, is the privateer was not paid by the nation or company, but paid by taking spoils (plunder = bottino) from ships or properties they attacked. They shared (divided = condividere) their profits with the government. They also had ‘letters of marque’, documents that legalize their robberies on enemy ships. If captured, the enemies did not consider them as pirates and did not condemn them to death. Most of the time, the nations, especially England , employed privateers in acts of war and they fought England
Sir Francis Drake was England
Most European nations abolished Privateering in 1856 Declaration of Paris. Only Spain and the United States