Pirates & Privateers ((4 Credits))

Catalog description

This course explores the world of Atlantic piracy, and the infamous pirates and privateers whose stories inform our modern, romanticized view of pirates. Students will be introduced to the dreaded Jolly Roger as well as swashbuckling figures such as Blackbeard and the unnamed, one-legged pirate who was likely the model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island. Sailors escaped from horrible working conditions on merchant and naval ships by becoming pirates. In doing so, they created a more equitable reality aboard their own ships, electing their officers, dividing their booty among the crewmembers fairly, and creating a new social order. Through examining both the myth and reality of being a pirate, the course looks at the world that pirates called their home. The role of pirates in the construction of empires in the Early Modern Era will be addressed, and the popular depiction of pirates versus the historical reality will be investigated.