Alex Colville

The third oldest profession?

It’s one of the oldest recorded human activities — and increased globalisation has done more to encourage piracy than suppress it

issue 15 June 2019

Western attitudes to piracy have dripped with hubris. In his classic history of 1932, Philip Gosse confidently argued that European empires and technological superiority had ‘done away’ with pirates entirely. He and others regretted the sacrifice of these noble savages to the march of progress. Nostalgia imbued pirates with a romantic aura as happy-go-lucky rebels, rough in appearance but pure of heart.

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