II) Piracy and the Age of Sail
- Ancient piracy: Mediterranean raiders from 1300 BCE to 200 CE
- The Golden Age (1680s-1730s): figures like Henry Every, Blackbeard, and Bartholomew Roberts
- Early European piracy: Norse longships and Viking coastal raids (8th-11th centuries)
- Early New World piracy: treasure fleets, English and French privateers in the Americas
- Barbary corsairs and Ottoman-backed piracy (1500s-1800s)
- Privateering and naval warfare: legal vs. illegal raids during European wars
- Pirate havens and semi-lawless ports (e.g., Tortuga, Port Royal, Salé, Algiers, Nassau, Tripoli)
- Shipboard life: governance, crew routines, punishments, and discipline
- Women in piracy: rare but notable figures like Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and Ching Shih
- Colonial power struggles in the Caribbean: England, France, Spain, and the Dutch
- Maritime trade and smuggling: piracy as a reaction to harsh laws and black markets
- Pirate economics: wealth from the New World, trade networks, and empire threats
- Suppression and decline: crackdowns, hanging judges, and changing global politics