Global Histories of Piracy

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course investigates global history through the lens of piracy, broadly construed. We will begin with a brief look at the definitions and examples of pirates and piratical activity in the ancient world, examining the ways that the Greeks, Romans, Persians, Egyptians, and others thought about criminality at sea. Thereafter, we will transition to an examination of pirates in the global Middle Ages, with focus on China, East Asia, Europe & Britain, the Mediterranean and Africa. The Columbian Exchange post-1492 brought new challenges and opportunities for pirates, prompting metamorphoses in piracy that we will explore through the modern era. Our course will finish by examining piracy in the present, interrogating the continuities and changes we have witnessed in piracy over time.