Piracy, Estuaries, and Commerce: Magh Predation in the Northern Bay of Bengal

Abstract

As a postgraduate student at the Department of History, University of Hyderabad, India, I was introduced to Michael Pearson’s scholarship on the Indian Ocean and related studies thereon. While teaching the course “The World of the Indian Ocean,” Professor Rila Mukherjee emphasized Michael Pearson as one of the first to systematically conceptualize the interconnected maritime space of the Indian Ocean, and particularly, in her own work, the Bay of Bengal. Pearson’s many works shaped my research ideas and provided frameworks for my future research interests. In this paper, I will focus on the significant historiographical and conceptual interventions of Michael Pearson and how they shaped the development of my research on magh predation in the northern Bay of Bengal.