Royaume des Truands

The phrase is from Karl Marx, in the chapter in Capital (V. 1) on "The so-called Primitive Accumulation." It is the French version of the phenomenon of legions of landless and rightless vagabonds coming to cities in the 16th-19th centuries because of their dispossession from feudal or common land. The state punishments for vagabonds during this era as described by Marx are astonishing. Slavery, branding, and mutilation. Anyone who thinks imperialism began with European incursions into the global South needs to read this book. Even when a "white" king or baron stole from a "white" peasant, it was rationalized as being good for "the nation."