History of Piracy in the Americas, 1492-1820

Catalog description

This course examines the history of piracy in the Americas from the point of European contact to the early nineteenth century, a period historians roughly designate as the “early modern.” The early modern period was an age marked by new ideas in science, medicine, and religion, by advances in shipbuilding, mining, and artillery manufacture, but also a time of endemic religious conflicts, expansive empires, and wars. In terms of overseas trade and conquest, Spain and Portugal were at the forefront throughout much of this period, and their successes in the Americas and elsewhere led their northern neighbors, particularly the French, English, and Dutch, to cast covetous eyes upon slow-moving, inbound treasure ships. These predators and the prey they seized upon are the primary subject of this course. The course will cover the social history of pirate bands as well as the history of the Transatlantic Treasure fleets and the Spanish Empire’s defensive networks. A final examination of the course will focus on the long term consequences, economic and otherwise, that piracy entailed for its mostly Spanish victims.