Commerce and Crime: The Rise and Fall of Privateering

Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries in England, there was a great time of triumph, both militarily and economically. Turning the page into the eighteenth century, England was beginning to gain larger land assets globally. This was happening primarily through an alliance between England, Portugal, and the Netherlands siding with the holy Roman empire against Spain and France in the War of Spanish Succession [6]. The conflict raged from 1701 to 1714 amongst the parties, over who had the right to succeed Charles the second as king of Spain [6]. Several battles are considered classics in military history, notably the Grand Alliance victories at Blenheim (1704) and Railleries (1706), which drove the French forces from Germany and the Netherlands, and the Franco-Bourbon Spanish victory at Almansa (1707), which in turn broke the Grand Alliance hold over Spain [4]. The war concluded with the Peace of Utrecht (1713), in which the warring states recognized the French candidate as King Philip V of Spain in exchange for territorial and economic concessions. The British Empire was territorially enlarged: from France, gaining Newfoundland and Acadia, and grabbing Gibraltar and Minorca from Spain [4],[5]. Gibraltar, which is still a British overseas territory to this day, became a critical naval base and allowed Britain to control the Atlantic entry and exit point to the Mediterranean [6]. By the 1720's England was in line to be one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful force in the world at that time [6]. As famed author Daniel Defoe said “we are the most diligent nation in the world. Vast trade, rich manufactures, mighty wealth, universal correspondence, and happy success have been constant companions of England, and gi...

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...0), Messieurs de Saint-Malo. Une élite négociante au temps de Louis XIV. Editions l’Ancre de Marine

[9] Morgan, Kenneth (1992), "Bristol and the Atlantic Trade in the Eighteenth Century," English Historical Review.

[10] Tracy, James D. ed. (1991), The Political Economy of Merchant Empires : State Power and World Trade, 1350-1750, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[11] Anderson, G.M., and A. Gifford (1991), "Privateering and the private production of naval power," Cato Journal.

[12] C. Gathman, H. Hillman (2000), Commerce and Crime: States, Property Rights, and the War on Trade, 1700-1815, Dept. Sociology/Economics Stanford University.

Quoted text

J. Hoppit , 1999 - Parliaments, Nations and Identities in Britain and Ireland, 1660-1850 – Manchester university Press Publishing – Accessed via: http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/ - Quote from Daniel Defoe.