ABSTRACT
N o other group of pirates in history has been more celebrated, hated, romanticized, demonized, or otherwise misrepresented than the late-seventeenth-century buccaneers. This is not surprising since it
was in this period more than any other, before or after, that individuals of many nationalities could come together freely in loose bands, embark from a variety of Caribbean bases, and make a living, virtually unhindered, by pillage. It was a time of opportunity for embittered Dutch sailors, for abandoned French colonists, for abused English, Scots, and Irish indentures, even for indebted sea captains and naval officers who had little other excuse to tum to crime to solve their problems. The rise of the buccaneers coincided with the decline of Spain, first as the preeminent political player in Europe and the Mediterranean, then as an economic superpower. The decline meant that Spain's American colonies were weaker both as consumer markets and as suppliers of hard money. The age of the buccaneers also coincided with the Cromwell dictatorship in England and the subsequent Restoration of Charles II and the Stuart Dynasty, the rise of the "Sun King," Louis XIV, in France, and the consolidation of Dutch independence from Spain. The timing of the rise of the buccaneers was also closely tied to the development of non-Spanish colonial bases in the Caribbean, namely the islands ofSt. Kitts (St. Christopher), St. Thomas, Barbados, Nevis, Antigua,
Cura9ao, Tortuga, Jamaica, and the northern and western regions of Hispaniola. By mid-century, pirates of all ethnic backgrounds and social classes could claim a base in one part or another of these American seas. Here, now at Tortuga, now at Port Royal, Jamaica, now at Danish St. Thomas, they could put in at friendly ports to sell stolen merchandise, find drink or other pleasure, rest and recover strength, and seek letters of marque for further "privateering" ventures against the Spanish. It was an unusual window in the history of the West Indies, and it would last for several decades.
