This essay assesses your ability to construct an argument. It is based on the lectures, tutorial discussions and readings from Weeks 6-12.
You must formulate an argument in response to ONE of the following questions
3. How and why did piracy affect European empires in the Atlantic world from the late sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries?
– In your response, you might like to consider the role of pirates and privateers in the conflict over wealth and territory, which engulfed European empires in the wake of the colonisation of the Americas; the significance of the Buccaneers of the Caribbean; and the crackdown on maritime bandits by the British state during the ‘golden age of piracy’ (1716-1726).