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Colin Woodard on The Republic of Pirates and consulting for Assassin's Creed: how historical research informs public history
Summary
In a Transatlantic episode for the U.S. Helsinki Commission, Colin Woodard discussed The Republic of Pirates and his role consulting for Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, describing how historical reconstruction in games can support public‑history projects.
Colin Woodard, author of The Republic of Pirates, told the U.S. Helsinki Commission’s Transatlantic podcast that his research into early 18th‑century Caribbean piracy informed his consulting work for Ubisoft on Assassin’s Creed Black Flag. Woodard said the project sought historical accuracy in environment and script, and that Ubisoft’s high‑resolution digital scans of historic structures have real‑world use: he noted those scans were later useful in reconstruction work on Notre Dame.
Woodard described the Republic of Pirates material — on Blackbeard and the early 1700s Caribbean crew culture that elected captains and shared plunder — and said translating archival research into a game setting was ‘‘fun’’ and useful for public history and education. The segment closed with a brief light‑hearted exchange about the cultural cachet that consulting on popular games confers with younger audiences.
