Of Piracy in the Americas
- A Crazy Little Bird Told Me
- May 4, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: May 7, 2023
Did you know that piracy in the Americas could be separated into 5 eras spreading from 1500 to 1730?
According to Kris E. Lane in his book "Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas 1500-1750", one can divide the history of piracy in the Americas into five periods:
the French corsairs between 1500 and 1559,
the Elizabethan pirates (1558-1603),
Dutch pirates and privateers (1570-1648),
the seventeenth-century buccaneers, and the end of buccaneering with the last of the freebooters around 1730.
First of all, here are the French again, first on scene and creating mayhem. Not judging, just saying! That being said, it seems the French had a good reason, because Spain was being annoying somehow (I guess we can all relate to dealing with annoying people). So the French fought back in what looks like a normal evolution from their piracy in the Mediterranean. For this period, think Jean Fleury!
Then came the Brits, with the likes of John Hawkins and Francis Drake. First there was contraband slave trading between 1558 and 1568, because the English refused the Spanish monopoly on that business (money, money, money people), then the increase of hostility lead to open Piracy from the English, which resulted in the war of 1585, at which time piracy turned into privateering (so you are still kind of a thug, but it is ok because a king or a queen hired you which means you are now a good guy; obviously if you are the one attacked by said privateer, you might disagree with that good guy label).
Then came the Dutch who started resenting Spanish religious orthodoxy and political domination. I mean, understandably! Remember this was the age of Inquisition (those people did not hand off lollipops, they were more into torture and execution) with its very Catholic mission while the Dutch were Protestant (yup, this was after Martin Luther and his Disputation on the Power of Indulgences started a whole new Christian movement which the Catholic did not take too kindly to … Religion, Politics, Power, Money … shake don’t stir).
The last half of the seventeenth century was the golden age of piracy in the Americas. Think, all you can eat buffet!
And last but not least, the buccaneers who were a self-governing, more or less egalitarian conglomerate of adventurers seeking freedom from rigid class hierarchies and intent on enjoying the fruits of their labors (does this remind you a little of Jack Sparrow maybe?).When the political climate in the Caribbean began to turn against piracy, they moved into the Pacific .
Alas, starting in 1716 a genuine extermination campaign began, and after 1730 the golden age of piracy with its freedom to roam and pillage was over.