Quote Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh View Post
My country has been involved in international mercantilism since its inception. Armed ships sailed into our ports for decades, with the weaponry on the ship often outgunning what the port had to defend its citizens. The same can be said for much of Europe. Why are we so enamored of making merchants defenseless now?
Au contraire. Arms on merchant vessels is more of a historical exception than rule; the period you speak of refers to the brief period in which piracy was pretty much officially sanctioned extension of state navies -- and even then, as far as Dutch merchant ships go, it was prohibited for the crew to actually carry arms, with weapons and munition locked away until actually engaging an enemy. Sometimes the ships would include a military detachment, more often than not ships would simply convoy relying on numbers for their safety.

As soon as the European powers no longer needed the pirates when their own navies were sufficiently well developed to do battle on their own they moved swiftly to crush this threat to their mercantile interests; restoring things back to normal.