Piracy and World History

Piracy and World History: An Economic Perspective on Maritime Predation

Oceans and seas provide cheap transport, but vulnerable assets attract pirates.
Pirates act as macroparasites, taking from others without return, affecting trade and productivity.
Piracy also has political implications, especially in conflicts between indigenous peoples and expanding powers.
The paper aims to provide an overview of piracy based on legal and economic concepts.
Piracy's patterns reflect wider contexts of commerce, politics, and remote policies.
Piracy in the Caribbean was fueled by Old World rivalries.
Mediterranean piracy was sustained by ideological animosity and economic rivalry.
Nineteenth-century piracy in the eastern seas was stimulated and suppressed by British industrial revolution-related changes.

Piracy is a subset of violent maritime predation, excluding declared war.
A precise, universally accepted definition of piracy is elusive.
A broad definition is the indiscriminate taking of property (or persons) with violence on or from the sea.
This includes stealing, but the