Did Pirates Use Scimitars?

So sailors and pirates preferred a short, heavy weapon. But the Knights of Malta, influenced by fighting Barbary pirates with curved scimitars, developed their own form of cutlass. Then in 1798, the Royal Navy introduced the first serious naval cutlass (and it's those later cutlasses that we see most often in movies.)

Who used scimitars?

History of the Scimitar

The earliest known use of scimitars is from the 9th century. The scimitar's curved design was probably introduced into central Islamic lands by Turkic warriors from central Asia. It became widespread throughout the Middle East from at least the Ottoman period.

Did pirates really use cutlasses?

Cutlasses are famous for being used by pirates, although there is no reason to believe that Caribbean buccaneers invented them, as has occasionally been claimed. ... In their most simplified form they are held to have become the machete of the Caribbean.