Looting involves an illegitimate and generally violent appropriation of property.
Plunder is the act and result of looting . This verb , for its part, is linked to stealing everything that is in a place, seizing things violently.
For example: “Justice investigates the looting that occurred last week in the city center,” “Rebel troops were responsible for the looting,” “A Spanish merchant was the victim of looting on Thursday night.”
What is looting
Those who commit looting indiscriminately and illegitimately take possession of other people's belongings. Generally, looting consists of entering an area and taking everything you can in the shortest time possible. This type of crime usually takes place in the context of war conflicts , natural disasters or situations of social lack of control and anarchy .
Another name for looting is pillage , and it is generally accompanied by violence , either as a form of provocation or as a result of the adrenaline that comes from the aforementioned situations; On the other hand, it can also occur peacefully, when the thief takes advantage of the lack of attention of a store's security personnel, for example.
The Vikings often resorted to plundering.
Historical origins
In its origins, the term looting served to designate the assault of small villages, towns or cities, and not necessarily in times of war or external confrontations, but it could also describe the theft that an inhabitant carried out on his own soil.
In ancient times, looting was an assault on towns carried out by military forces. On August 24, 410 , to cite a historical example, the Visigoths entered Rome and began a plunder that lasted three days and included rape and murder.
The Phoenicians and the Vikings are two peoples that are usually associated with the activity of pillage and, in the case of the former, with piracy . Roman military laws authorized plunder: when a blood-stained spear was raised, it was time to begin the attack. Throughout the Middle Ages, looting was not considered illicit; Only in 1590 , King Henry IV of France established a 24-hour limit per city for this activity.
Looting in the modern era
Looting also appeared in the modern era. In 2001 , in Argentina there was a social outbreak due to the economic and political crisis that led to looting in the main cities of the country, with hundreds of people entering supermarkets, appliance stores and other businesses to rob en masse.
In such moments of social and economic crisis , it is very contradictory that people supposedly affected by the problems in their country have no qualms about destroying other people's stores and stripping their owners of their products . Many times, criminals - mostly improvised - try to justify their actions by ensuring that the affected merchants are participants in the monopoly; However, this is not true in most cases, since looting is characterized by a lack of control, disproportionate violence and impulsivity: no shop window is spared, regardless of the convictions or social status of the owner.
Seizure and theft of works of art and historical objects
It should be noted, finally, that looting is also often spoken of in reference to the seizure or theft of works of art and objects of historical value carried out by people, companies or countries to keep wealth that does not belong to them.
This action is also known by other names, such as archaeological and artistic looting , and is usually carried out by people who have specific knowledge or well-defined interests, either out of hobby or the intention of selling the products to knowledgeable people.