Licensed sea-raiders in time of war, who had government-issued letters of marque or reprisal allowing them to attack enemy shipping. Privateers were often employed in European wars in the 16th and 17th centuries by the English, French, and Dutch, and they later became common in the Caribbean, North America, and the Indian Ocean during imperial conflicts. The Americans resorted to widespread privateering during the Wars of Independence and 1812; the South followed this example during the Civil War. Privateers were internationally abolished by the Declaration of Paris (1856).