Examining the Past: A History Podcast

Solomon Kelly Smith
  • 5.0 (1)
  • History

My name is Dr. Solomon Smith. I have been teaching history at the University level since 2004. This podcast is an extension of the classes that I teach. The first season will cover a Survey of American History, but future seasons will include topics like Colonial America, The American Revolution, First Contact in the New World, Pirates in the Americas and sports history.

  1. An Economic Perspective of Piracy

    Apr 30

    An Economic Perspective of Piracy

    This episode examines piracy during the golden age from an economic history perspective, highlighting how it disrupted trade, reflected political and economic rivalries, and posed legal and jurisdictional challenges. Piracy imposed both immediate and long-term costs by destroying ships, cargo, and labor, increasing protection expenses, reducing trade, and discouraging investment, while sometimes providing competitive advantages to certain merchants. Different forms of piracy—parasitic, intrinsic, and episodic—arose based on trade, politics, and local power, and piracy persists today because it remains profitable, difficult to detect, and thrives in impoverished or poorly governed maritime communities, requiring coordinated enforcement, international cooperation, and economic development to address.

    43 min
  2. Women Pirates and Pirates' Women

    Apr 28

    Women Pirates and Pirates' Women

    This episode shows that while seafaring was overwhelmingly male, determined women—ranging from disguised sailors to leaders like Grace O’Malley—could sometimes break into this world and exercise real power. Women rarely appeared in piracy, but Anne Bonny and Mary Read became famous by disguising themselves as men and actively fighting alongside Calico Jack Rackam during the final years of the Golden Age of Piracy. Captured in 1720, they were convicted of piracy but temporarily spared execution due to pregnancy, highlighting both their exceptional roles and the strict limits placed on women at sea.

    48 min
  3. The Last of the Breed

    Apr 23

    The Last of the Breed

    This episode covers the period after the buccaneer era ended in 1697. Piracy resurged briefly in the early 18th century due to wars like the War of the Spanish Succession, which turned many sailors into privateers and then unemployed seamen who became pirates. Famous figures such as Blackbeard and Bartholomew Roberts thrived during this final pirate cycle, but growing threats to trade pushed Britain to respond with stronger laws, naval patrols, rewards, and trials in colonial admiralty courts. Coordinated action by the Royal Navy and licensed privateers between roughly 1718 and 1726 rapidly reduced piracy, marking the effective end of the “Golden Age of Pirates.”

    1h 9m
  4. The Suppression of the Priates

    Apr 21

    The Suppression of the Priates

    This episode covers how the War of the Spanish Succession briefly allowed former buccaneers to return as privateers, but its end unleashed a short, intense final pirate cycle featuring figures like Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, and Bartholomew Roberts before coordinated naval suppression ended early modern piracy. Transitional figures Henry Avery and William Kidd showed how Europe—especially England—shifted from tolerating pirates to aggressively prosecuting them, driven largely by the commercial interests of the English East India Company and global trade stability. Avery escaped but died in obscurity, while Kidd was executed as a political sacrifice, symbolizing the rise of strong naval power, expanded legal authority, and international cooperation that finally crushed piracy.

    41 min
  5. The Last Buccaneers

    Apr 16

    The Last Buccaneers

    This episode covers the period after the South Sea raids. Traditional buccaneering declined as European powers increasingly sought to suppress piracy, though wars repeatedly delayed enforcement and allowed piracy to persist in new forms. In the late 17th century, shifting bases in places like the Bahamas, French Hispaniola, and British North America sustained multinational pirate activity, culminating in major raids such as Veracruz (1683) and Cartagena (1697), even as official tolerance steadily eroded. By the early 18th century, piracy briefly revived through privateering during the War of the Spanish Succession, but a coordinated international crackdown—especially by the English Royal Navy—ultimately ended the buccaneer era and ushered pirates into history and legend.

    33 min
  6. The Second South Seas Pirate Cycle

    Apr 14

    The Second South Seas Pirate Cycle

    This episode covers the second pirate cycle in the South Sea (1680s–1690s), which saw increasingly large, multinational buccaneer groups exploiting weak Spanish naval defenses, decentralized authority, and abundant offshore hideouts, culminating in major raids such as the sack of Guayaquil in 1687. Although Spanish militias and merchant-funded defenses improved locally, coordination failures, corruption, and the vastness of the Pacific prevented effective control, while piracy gradually shifted toward contraband trading rather than outright raiding. By the late 1690s, large-scale buccaneering had faded, leaving long-term consequences of disrupted trade, regional fragmentation, and greater reliance on local initiative as smuggling replaced piracy as the dominant foreign intrusion.

    37 min
  7. The Buccaneers & Draw of South Seas

    Apr 7

    The Buccaneers & Draw of South Seas

    This episode covers the draw of the South Seas for the Buccaneers. Despite geographic barriers, Caribbean buccaneering spread into the Pacific as European powers began cracking down on pirates they had once encouraged, pushing some to seek new hunting grounds like the South Sea. A minor English expedition under John Narborough (1669–70) revealed Spanish vulnerabilities and produced the bizarre case of “Don Carlos,” whose contradictory claims and execution fueled Spanish paranoia about foreign intrigue. This fear was realized with Bartholomew Sharp’s 1680–82 Pacific raid, which exploited weak Spanish defenses, caused significant disruption, yielded valuable intelligence and charts, and ultimately allowed Sharp and his companions to escape punishment by reframing piracy as espionage.

    43 min
  8. Mercantilism & the growth of Piracy

    Mar 31

    Mercantilism & the growth of Piracy

    This episode covers the rise of mercantilism in Europe, fueled by the colonization of the Americas and the development of the sugar and slave economies, emphasized national wealth, state involvement in trade, a favorable balance of trade, and the strategic use of colonies, shaping European economic and political power from the 1600s onward. Simultaneously, piracy flourished in the Caribbean and beyond, targeting Spanish treasure fleets and trade routes, bringing immense wealth to North American colonies and challenging imperial authority, while creating a unique, often brutal social and political culture among pirate crews. Over time, governments clamped down on piracy as legitimate trade—like sugar and slavery—became more valuable, forcing colonial and metropolitan authorities to strengthen their control, which paradoxically helped develop stronger colonial economies and governance.

    1h 5m
See All (82)

About

My name is Dr. Solomon Smith. I have been teaching history at the University level since 2004. This podcast is an extension of the classes that I teach. The first season will cover a Survey of American History, but future seasons will include topics like Colonial America, The American Revolution, First Contact in the New World, Pirates in the Americas and sports history.

Information

You Might Also Like