Pirates unit study and lapbook. Who hasn’t heard of pirates?

They conjure up in our mind scenes of swashbucklers and wealth of hidden treasures untold.

READ ON ‘IFIN YOU DARE TO

Pirates have had an enormous impact on world history whether they were destroying civilizations or lurking along trade routes to attack ships.

Who where these pirates? What lured them to the sea and where were they? How long have they been at sea?

The activities in this unit will expand your knowledge on the subject. The world wide web features endless information and is a perfect resource to accompany this unit study.

Where possible, links have been provided to help you in your further research of this truly fascinating subject.

Background Information

• Sea raiding started early with the Egyptians making the first sea worthy ship.

Around 1200 BC, Phoenicians, who lived at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea were some of the most successful seafarers in the ancient world. One of the main trading ports was in the city of Tyre, now modern day Lebanon. 

• Activities: Locate Lebanon on a map or atlas.

What other discoveries are they credited for? Hint: Do you  like the color purple? You can read about it as some of these sites.

• About Phoenicia. and here

Greek pirates were so feared, city-states used them at times to help collect taxes. Read about the pirates of Greece.

The Golden Age of Piracy did not last long. Pirates often had a license to kill. Governments would sanction piracy against their enemies. Privateers attacked enemy ships under the royal letters given to them during wartime.

Privateers turned pirate when they became greedy and kept the treasures. Most men went to sea to seek a better life no matter how dangerous the life and to escape the brutal life aboard naval vessels.

As ruthless as the pirates were, on board the ship most pirate captains were elected by democracy. Too, the captains did not have absolute control over the ship and the crew.

Piracy was not a “men only” profession. Women pirates such as Mary Read and Ann Bonney sought a life of adventure.

The Pirate Queen, Elizabeth I, anchored her throne by sending out English pirates, like Sir Francis Drake against Spanish ships to collect booty.

Vocabulary

• pirate – One who commits robbery at sea during time of war or peace.
• privateer –  Sailors, usually civilians, legally commissioned  to attack enemy ships of a sovereign nation.
• buccaneer –  The word is derived the word buccan, a wooden frame for smoking meat. The French word boucane and the name boucanier are French hunters who used such frames to smoke meat from cattle and pigs on Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic). English colonists anglicised the word boucanier to buccaneer.
• corsair –  The Anglicized French term for a privateer.
• aft –  The sternward part of a ship.
• backstaff – A navigational tool invented in 1595 that measures latitude
• barca-longa – A two or three-masted Mediterranean ship with a single lugsail on each mast.
• careen –  To lean a ship on its side to clean.
• foremast –  The foremost mast on a ship.
• forecastle – A short raised deck at the fore end of  a vessel.

Notebook or Lapbook Covers

Here is a picture of just ONE way to use the pieces. I do have more lapbooking pieces than fits into one letter size file folder without flaps.

This allowed my oldest to do some notebooking while the younger ones did lapbooks. So feel free to mix/match as well or just add flaps if you get adventurous and want to make the whole thing.

Lapbook Layout

Click here to read about Egyptian Warfare.

• How important was the Nile River to the Egyptians?
• Why was the river so important?
• Describe the differences and similarities between trade in Ancient Egypt and today?
• Explain some improvements made in their ships.

At first the ships were built for transportation, but eventually they had to do sea battle. Record the events of one sea battle by reading here

Investigate Egyptian ship structure and archaeological evidence.

In the History of Piracy minibook compare three time period; Historic Piracy,  Piracy in the Middle Ages,  Modern Day Piracy

Research the expedition of treasure recovered from the Whydah, the ship that sank in a storm in 1717.

Download this free educator’s guide about the Whydah to use for the minibooks.

In this minibook, you can  record your observations on the following:

• How many pirate shipwrecks have actually been recovered?
• Record the timeline of events.
• Record the events that made the Whydah one of the most advanced ships of her day.
• View and learn of some of the artifacts collected by going to the links.

Download the Real Pirates Guide.

More Pirate Hands-on Activities and Resources

This next download of eight pages on pirates has a ship shaped vocabulary  pocket and the following mini books, Brethen of the Coast, Biography min books on Captain Morgan and Blackbeard, Ships of the Past. This can be downloaded under the Ship at the bottom.

Notebooking pages

Pirates Unit Study Ideas

• Read Treasure Island and download this free literature guide.
• Learn the parts of a ship, how to tie knots and other things.
• Locate: Spain, England, Jamaica, Caribbean, and Norway.
• Survival tips on an island.
• Besides gold and silver what other things did pirates consider treasure? (household things like soap, candles, and kitchen equipment, navigational tools, maps and rigging from other vessels captured used to make repairs while at sea.
• Make a pirate dictionary using this free download.
• Make a simple compass.

Pictures of Field Trip Exhibit for Pirates

How to Get the Free Pirates Lapbook

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