Between 1500 and 1750, European expansion and global interaction produced vast wealth. As goods traveled by ship along new global trade routes, piracy also flourished on the world’s seas. "Pillaging the Empire" tells the fascinating story of maritime predation in this period, including the perspectives of both pirates and their victims. Brushing aside the romantic legends of piracy, Kris Lane pays careful attention to the varied circumstances and motives that led to the rise of this bloodthirsty pursuit of riches, and places the history of piracy in the context of early modern empire building.
This second edition of "Pillaging the Empire" has been revised and expanded to incorporate the latest scholarship on piracy, maritime law, and early modern state formation. With a new chapter on piracy in East and Southeast Asia, Lane considers piracy as a global phenomenon. Filled with colorful details and stories of individual pirates from Francis Drake to the women pirates Ann Bonny and Mary Read, this engaging narrative will be of interest to all those studying the history of Latin America, the Atlantic world, and the global empires of the early modern era.
Author(s): Kris Lane
Edition: 2
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: XX+252
List of Tables, Maps, and Figures ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
A Chronology of Early Modern Piracy xvii
Introduction 1
1. Spain and the Sixteenth-Century Corsairs 7
The Brothers Barbarossa and the Barbary Coast Corsairs 8
Jambe de Bois and the First Caribbean Corsairs 13
The French Corsair Threat in Brazil 22
Contraband Trade and the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis 24
Notes 27
2. Smugglers, Pirates, and Privateers: The Elizabethans 29
West Country Slave Traders 29
San Juan de Ulúa and Aftermath 32
Drake and Elizabethan Piracy 35
Elizabethan Privateers 43
Notes 55
3. From the Low Countries to the High Seas: The Dutch Sea-Rovers 57
Calvinism and Competition at Sea 58
Salt and Sovereignty in the Caribbean 59
Piet Heyn and the Dutch West India Company 61
Dutch Intruders in the Pacific 66
Notes 87
4. The Seventeenth-Century Caribbean Buccaneers 89
Renegades and Runaways on Hispaniola and Tortuga 90
Port Royal, Jamaica: Pirate Haven 94
Henry Morgan and the Treaty of Madrid 101
Buccaneers as Loggers and Privateers 115
Notes 120
5. Buccaneers in the South Sea 122
John Narborough and the Charlatan 122
Bartholomew Sharp: Pirate Captain of Last Resort 124
A Second Pirate Cycle in the South Sea 132
Grogniet and Guayaquil, 1687 139
Captain Franco, Shipwrecks, and Contraband 142
Notes 150
6. Pirates, Merchants, and Conquistadors in the Indian Ocean and China Seas 152
Pirates of the Indian Ocean 154
The Corsair Sefer Reis 156
The Malabar Pirates 159
Sea Raiders of East and Southeast Asia 161
Koxinga and the Struggle for Taiwan 168
Notes 174
7. The Last Buccaneers and Pirate Suppression 176
The Buccaneer Denouement 177
Henry Avery and Captain Kidd 183
The Sack of Rio de Janeiro 190
Treasure Wrecks and the Anglo-American Freebooters 192
Notes 206
Conclusion 209
Afterword to the Second Edition 215
Appendix: Early Modern Pirates and Contemporary European Monarchs 227
Glossary of Terms 229
Select Bibliography 231
Index 239
