The oldest account of pirates was of a ship attack in North Africa during the Ancient Greek and Roman age
  In the 3rd century BC, pirate attacks on Olympus in Lycia brought impoverishment
  As early as 258 AD, the Gothic-Herulic fleet ravaged towns on the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara
  In medieval Europe the Vikings from Scandinavia raided between the 8th and 12th centuries
  In the Late Middle Ages, the Frisian pirates fought against Emperor Charles V with some success
  In the 9th century, Moorish pirate havens were placed along the coast of southern France and northern Italy
  From 824 to 961 Arab pirates raided the entire Mediterranean
  Narentines continued raiding Venetian waters against the Italians in 887–888
  Viking raiders plundered countries of Western Europe between 700 and 1100
  Between 10th and 14th century, many European countries formed alliances to deter of pirate attacks
  English cities formed defenses in 1300s combating pirate attacks on ships and cities
  French and English combined forces against African based pirates at the end of 14th century
  Continued trade between Europe and India in 15th century was responsible for more acts of piracy
  The first Golden Age of Piracy begant around 1650 by more trade and buccaneers left the Caribbean
  Blackbeard and Bartholomew Roberts plundered many ships and killed countless victims in early 1700s
  By 1730 international anti-piracy laws finally ended the Golden Age of Piracy
  At the end of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe in 1815 some sailors returned to piracy
  At this time a new pirate empire in China, had more than 600 pirate junks and 30,000 men
  1990s attacks on shipping returned in Somalia, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, West Africa, the Philipines, Brazil, Columbia and Venezuala.