Simon Layton Book Launch – Piratical States: British Imperialism in the Indian Ocean World c.1780-1850

About the Book

Who had the right to rule the seas – and who could be condemned as a pirate? Ranging across the Indian Ocean world, from India and the Persian Gulf to maritime Southeast Asia, Piratical States explores how British officials developed and deployed accusations of piracy to delegitimise Indigenous authority, justify military intervention, and expand the reach of empire in the early nineteenth century.

This event will be chaired by Dr Sunil Purushotham, in discussion with Dr David Veevers and Professor Richard Drayton.

About the Speakers

Dr Simon Layton is Senior Lecturer in Global History at Queen Mary University of London, where he researches and teaches on imperial, global, and oceanic history, specialising in sea power, piracy, and maritime trade. His book, Piratical States: British Imperialism in the Indian Ocean World, c. 1780-1850, explores the role of piracy in the expansion of British imperial power in Asia, and is published by Cambridge University Press.

Dr Sunil Purushotham is Associate Professor of History, has been teaching at Fairfield University.  A historian of modern South Asia, his research focuses on the history of sovereignty and democracy in India, Indian political thought, and global intellectual history. His book, From Raj to Republic: Sovereignty, Violence and Democracy in India was published by Stanford University Press in 2021. He teaches courses on modern South Asia, histories of colonialism and decolonisation, and global intellectual history.  He currently serves as the Director of the Humanities Institute and the Director of Asian Studies at Fairfield.

Dr David Veevers is Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Bangor, where he researches and teaches on colonial, global, and early modern history, specialising in the history of the English East India Company and, more recently, English colonisation of the Caribbean. His forthcoming book, Where the Manchineel Trees Grow, tells the story of the first English family to establish a slave plantation in the Caribbean, and will be published with Icon Books in late 2027.

Free and open to all.