We're rascals and scoundrels, we're villains and knaves.
We're devils and black sheep, we're really bad eggs.
We're beggars and blighters and ne'er do-well cads,
Aye, but we're loved by our mommies and dads,
Stand up me hearties, yo ho!
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!

Time Period Covered:
ca. 1521-1550 CE



 Sources Cited:
Andrade, Tonio and Xing Hang. “Introduction: The East Asian Maritime Realm in Global History: 1500-1700” in Sea Rovers, Silver, and Samurai: Maritime East Asia in Global History, 1500-1700.

Chin, James K. “Merchants, Smugglers, and Pirates: Multinational Clandestine Trade on the South China Coast, 1520-50” in Elusive pirates, pervasive smugglers: violence and clandestine trade in the Greater China Seas.

Geiss, James. “The Chia-ching reign, 1522-1566” in The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part I.

Laver, Michael. “Neither Here nor There: Trade, Piracy, and the ‘Space Between’ in Early Modern East Asia” in Sea Rovers, Silver, and Samurai: Maritime East Asia in Global History, 1500-1700.

Petrucci, Maria Grazia. “Pirates, Gunpowder, and Christianity in Late Sixteenth-Century Japan” in Elusive pirates, pervasive smugglers: violence and clandestine trade in the Greater China Seas.

Wills, John E. “Maritime China from Wang Chih to Shih Lang: Themes In Peripheral History” in From Ming to Ch’ing: Conquest, Region, and Continuity in Seventeenth-Century China.

The History of China

#241 - Ming 28: Wokou! Wokou! A Pirate's Life For Me!

An audio journey through the 5000 year history of one of the world's oldest continuous civilizations.