The Problem of Piracy in the Early Modern World: Maritime Predation, Empire, and the Construction of Authority at Sea

During the early modern period, European maritime empires exacerbated piracy, a common occurrence. This book explores the complexities of defining and criminalizing maritime predation, revealing that it was largely a local and often idiosyncratic issue.

Format: Hardback
Length: 290 pages
Publication date: 22 April 2024
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

In the early modern era, both legal and illegal maritime predation was a widespread phenomenon, but the expansion of European maritime empires exacerbated existing and created new problems of piracy across the globe. This comprehensive collection of original case studies addresses these early modern challenges in three sections: first, states' attempts to exercise jurisdiction over seafarers and their actions; second, the diverse predatory marine practices considered piracy; and lastly, the various representations made about piracy by states or the seafarers themselves. Spanning nine chapters covering regions such as southeast Asia, the Atlantic archipelago, the North African states, and the Caribbean Sea, the complexities of defining and criminalizing maritime predation are explored, raising questions surrounding subjecthood, interpolity law, and the impacts of colonization on the legal and social construction of ocean, port, and coastal spaces. Seeking to unravel the meanings and motivations behind piracy, this book reveals that while European states attempted to fashion piracy into a global and homogenous phenomenon, it was largely a local and often idiosyncratic issue.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789463720960