Drawing on a long tradition of plunder at sea, English pirates and rovers ranged the Caribbean, spread outwards into the Pacific and Atlantic, and infiltrated the Indian Ocean, exposing the vulnerability of international trade and colonial settlements to attack.

Throughout the Golden Age of Piracy (from approximately 1650 until 1720) and before this, the UK played an important part in the history of piracy. As well as spawning many of the most famous pirates still talked about today, parts of Britain were hotbeds of pirate activity, acting as key smuggling locations and strategic storage points.