Piracy, Slavery and Armed Conflicts across Atlantic Europe in the Late Middle Ages

This Thesis's topic proposal focuses on the analysis and comparative study of economic activities, port societies and armed conflicts at sea in Atlantic Europe between 1200 and 1520, The Thesis will be developed in the Research Group called GOBPORT. The fundamental hypothesis is that the medieval European Atlantic port network was a success because it was based on a series of factors, such as geographical conditions, infrastructures, dynamic societies and a governance adaptive to its peripheral position, among others. All of them were the key factors of the development and economic recovery of late medieval Atlantic Europe. On the other hand, we propose to analyze the key factors by means of a selection of port cities or maritime regions from Northern and Southern Atlantc Europe. Some of the main goals of the proposal are: 1. Reflecting and debating about the theoretical and methodological issues of the economic activities of the Atlantic ports. 2. Studying, in a comparative and transnational way, the development and scope of economic activities and their relationship with societies, from a perspective of gender history, of the town ports, located on the peripheries of the European Atlantic arc. 3. Researching where, how, when, why and thanks to whom in the town ports of Atlantic Europe were given an economic specialization towards fishing activities (inshore, high altitude or mixed), transport (short and scopes), shipbuilding and repair, commercial exchange, piracy or others. 4. Analyzing the interactions between the economic activities related to the sea (fishing, trade, navigation, freight transport, privateering and piracy ...), the social groups that played a leading role and the institutions and forms of port government along the Atlantic coast of Europe. 5. Analyzing the Atlantic port environments and their relationship with economic development, human, social and technological progress, political relations and armed conflicts in the Europe of the 13th-15th centuries. 6. Reflecting on the role of merchants in the diplomatic relations of ports and states, as well as their ability to influence as lobbies in those ports where they settled, especially in the resolution of conflicts. 7. Studying the above goals from a gender perspective, analyzing the role played by women in port economies and societies, in which they played a leading role. 8. Researching about the the maritime trade of slaves, and the armed conflicts for the control.of the maritime routes. 9. Contributing positively and accurately to current debates about the role of Europe in the First Globalization. 10. Finalising writing of dissertation and preparations for its publication as a book, and participatig in international conferences, seminars, and publishing articles in peer reviewed journals.