The most successful pirate of all time - Dian Murray
Check out our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/teded View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-most-successful-pirate-of-all-time-dian-murray At the height of their power, infamous...
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At the height of their power, infamous Caribbean pirates like Blackbeard and Henry Morgan commanded as many as ten ships and several hundred men. But their stories pale next to the most successful pirate of all time. Madame Zheng commanded 1800 vessels, made enemies of several empires, and still lived to old age. Madame Zheng began her life as a commoner working on one of the many floating brothels, or flower boats, in the port city of Guangzhou. By 1801, she had attracted the attention of a local pirate captain named Zheng Yi, and the two soon married. Guangzhou’s fishermen had long engaged in small-scale piracy to supplement their meager incomes in the offseason. But a successful peasant uprising in neighboring Vietnam at the end of the 18t...
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At the height of their power, infamous Caribbean pirates like Blackbeard and Henry Morgan commanded as many as ten ships and several hundred men. But their stories pale next to the most successful pirate of all time. Madame Zheng commanded 1800 vessels, made enemies of several empires, and still lived to old age. Madame Zheng began her life as a commoner working on one of the many floating brothels, or flower boats, in the port city of Guangzhou. By 1801, she had attracted the attention of a local pirate captain named Zheng Yi, and the two soon married. Guangzhou’s fishermen had long engaged in small-scale piracy to supplement their meager incomes in the offseason. But a successful peasant uprising in neighboring Vietnam at the end of the 18t...
