Spot the Difference: Pirates, Privateers, Corsairs, and Buccaneers

Question: What is the difference between a pirate and a privateer?

Answer: Pirates operated illegally while privateers, who were commissioned by governments to carry out quasi-military activities, technically operated within the law.

Question: Which of these people was a privateer rather than a pirate?

Answer: The most famous of all privateers is probably English admiral Francis Drake, who made a fortune plundering Spanish settlements in the Americas after being granted a privateering commission by Elizabeth I in 1572.

Question: Where did corsairs generally operate?

Answer: The term corsair is tied to the Mediterranean Sea, where, from roughly the late 14th century to the early 19th century, the Ottoman Empire dueled with the Christian states of Europe for maritime supremacy.

Question: What is the French boucan, which the term buccaneer is derived from?

Answer: The term buccaneer derives from the French boucan, a grill for smoking meat. It was first applied to French wild game hunters living in western Hispaniola in the early 17th century.

Question: Memoirs from which “professionals” inspired Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe?

Answer: Colorful memoirs by buccaneers like William Dampier and Lionel Wafer influenced the depiction of pirates by writers Robert Louis Stevenson and Daniel Defoe.

Question: Where did buccaneers generally operate?

Answer: Buccaneers generally operated in the Caribbean and the Pacific coast of Central America.

Question: Which religious conflict are corsairs associated with?

Answer: The term corsair is associated with the conflict between Muslim and Christian powers from roughly the late 14th century to the early 19th century, when the Ottoman Empire was dueling with the Christian states of Europe for maritime supremacy. 

Question: Which nation was the primary foe of buccaneers?

Answer: The buccaneers’ primary foe was Spain, which formally controlled Hispaniola and Tortuga where buccaneers made their home and sought to drive them away from the islands.