Manuel Barcia, "Pirate Imperialism: Trade, Abolition, and Global Suppression of Maritime Raiding, 1825–1870" (Yale UP, 2026)
About this episode
The episode discusses how imperial powers used anti-piracy efforts as a pretext for territorial expansion and enforcing imperialist agendas during the 19th century.
In the middle decades of the nineteenth century, imperial powers around the world came into direct confrontation with local resistance in the form of maritime raiding. From the Atlantic basin to the western Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf and the east coast of Africa, and Southeast Asia and China, imperial powers claimed that progress was being held back by the barbarity and greed of pirates, who repeatedly attacked imperial vessels. The suppression of piracy, justified under the banner of spreading civilization and free trade and abolishing slavery and the slave trade, provided both western and non-western powers with a back door for territorial expansion and the enforcement of imperialist agendas. In Pirate Imperialism: Trade, Abolition, and Global Suppression of Maritime Raiding, 1825–1870 (Yale UP, 2026), Professor Manuel Barcia tells the story of these conflicts, showing how imperialist powers frequently used anti–maritime raiding efforts as excuses to cement western supremacy in various parts of the world, while simultaneously resorting to violent means that were indistinguishable from the methods of those they accused of being pirates. This interview was conducted by…
People in this episode
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Manuel Barcia
Topics covered
- piracy
- imperialism
- maritime raiding
- abolition
- global trade
- 19th century history
Keywords
- pirate imperialism
- maritime raiding
- trade
- abolition
- 19th century
- imperial powers
- civilization
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Yale UP
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