Tippling houses, rum shops and taverns: how alcohol fuelled informal commercial networks and knowledge exchange in the West Indies

ABSTRACT Although historians have recently considered the important role that taverns and the consumption of alcohol played in the early modern world, less attention has been focused on more nefarious or dubious consumers such as pirates and privateers. Establishments such as taverns and tippling houses could provide pirates with necessary refreshment, lodging between ventures, and vital information on shipping activities in the Caribbean–Atlantic. But the patronage of these men–and sometimes women–also infused the local economy with specie, commodities, and sometimes even security against foreign incursions. By examining the legal record, archaeological remains, and the flow of cash and commodities in and out of various Caribbean–Atlantic islands, this article posits the importance of piracy and alcohol in the formation of informal commercial networks and the flow of knowledge throughout the early modern West Indies.