Forget Blackbeard. History’s most successful pirate was a woman, and she absolutely wrecked the competition.
Zheng Yi Sao went from relative obscurity to commanding a pirate confederation of up to 80,000 sailors and nearly 2,000 ships. For comparison, Blackbeard had four ships and a few hundred men.
But Zheng Yi Sao wasn’t just sitting on a giant fleet looking intimidating. She helped organize an insanely strict code of conduct, defeated government fleets, took on foreign navies, controlled major trade routes, and eventually got the Chinese government to offer her amnesty rather than keep fighting her.
And somehow, she walked away from piracy alive, wealthy, and with a pretty sweet retirement deal.
So how did a woman born into poverty become one of the most powerful pirates the world has ever seen?
Weird History takes a look at the extraordinary life of the Pirate Queen who ruled the South China Sea and why she deserves to be remembered as one of history’s greatest pirates. Check it out!