Pirates Midterm

Atlantic Origins 1.1: 

  • Enemies of all Mankind (1200 BCE)

    • Pirates seen as outside of the order of nations (law, econ, politics)

    • Label enforced by others for legitimacy if fighting against them 

    • Ramses fought the “sea people,” which bolstered his power and legitimacy 

  • Rise of the Ottomans (1299-1453)

    • Ottoman empire rises and disrupts trade routes through its land 

    • Underlying hostility between Christian and Muslims in the Mediterranean

    • Ottomans can organize military power that Western European states can’t 

    • Ottomans push into North Africa and established power over the Mediterranean 

  • The Reconquista (1000-1492)

    • Northern Spain in 1489 is consolidated by the Spanish “Catholic Monarchs” with powerful military 

    • “Catholic Monarchs” finish conquest of Iberia in 1492

    • Conquer muslim states in Spain 

    • Raid the jewish and force them out of Spain 

    • Limpieza de Sangre: “purity of blood” meaning certain people have pure blood related to Old Christian identity, not having Jewish or Muslim roots  

  • European Monarchs (1400-1600)

    • Establishing of systems of laws, rules etc to keep people in line, tax

    • Christian states competing with each other for resources, trade and the Monarchs requiring more soldiers 

  • Atlantic Islands (1400-1600)

    • Portuguese interested in cutting off the gold trade to Spain, so they sail down the coast of Africa 

    • Portuguese come into contact with WesternAfrican islands (Madeira, Canary Islands)

    • Guance: indigenous people of the canary islands who were attacked and kidnapped into slavery by Portugal and Spain 

    • Atlantic slavery foreshadowed by what was happening in the Mediterranean and on the Canary Islands 

    • Columbus gets started in Canary Islands then goes to the Bahamas  

    • Islands serve as laboratories for slave labor for commodities 

  • Conquest of Hispaniola (1492-1519)

    • Sugar production key to the imperial project

    • 1492: Colombia violently occupied Hispaniola

    • 2 Million Taino, ⅓ died and rest are forced to work in gold mines/enslaved 

    • Columbus wants to bring sugar mills and growing to Hispaniola

    • Spanish justify their raids with Christianity/spreading Christian monarchy 

    • Feitorias: trading posts/factories established by the portuguese in West coast of Africa 

    • Spanish colonizing the Caribbean, Portuguese colonizing West Africa  

  • Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

    • Treaty to divide Spanish and Portuguese territory

    • Portuguese get Brazil via dividing line 

    • Portuguese colonize the Tupi people and begin establishing factories and trading ports 

    • Brazil became a big sugar producer 


Rise of the Buccaneers 2.1: 

  • El requerimiento (1510)

    • Spanish arrive in Cuba in 1519 and establish Havana, use it as a base for raiding other places in the Caribbean basin 

    • Requirimiento: read to explain the rights of Christians to land 

    • Spanish establish the encomienda system: conquerors are granted patents over certain patches of land and people who inhabit the land 

  • Conquest of Mexico (1519-1521)

    • Mexica/Aztec empire is expanding rapidly and taking advantage of the weakness of neighbors to illness from Europeans 

    • Cortez arrives in Mexico 1519, encourages neighbors of Mexica to rebel 

    • La Malinche helps Cortez form alliances with non-Mexica neighbors

    • 90% of Mexico’s central valley dies during this period 

  • Conquest of Peru (1532-1572)

    • Francisco Pizarro has campaign to conquer Peru

    • Conquers the Incan Cuzco and murders Incans 

    • Casta system: spanish born people, criollos/creoles, mestizos, indios, negros = racial hierarchy 

    • System of racial hierarchy imposed on people 

  • Potosi (1545)

    • Mine that is an engine of silver production 

    • Spanish turn the indigenous “Mita” system into overdrive, extracting forced labor from indigenous people 

    • Huayia = smelting technique 

  • Galleones (1565)

    • Ships used to haul silver from the “new world”

    • Spanish trading mined silver for spices and silks in Asia 

    • These are bulk goods, ideal commodity because bulk transport but risky 

  • Phillip II (1556-1598)

    • Spanish king and the descendant of Hapsburgs 

    • Hapsburgs are confronting the Ottomans 

    • Spanish and Italian empires clash with the Ottomans (Catholics versus Ottomans)

    • Phillip II consolidating power 

  • Protestant Rivals (1517-1648)

    • 1517: protestant reformation, spins off into the english reformation 

    • Catholics and protestants fighting 


Rise of the Buccaneers 2.2: 

  • Huguenot privateers (1522-1598)

    • Wealth from the Americas is going to Spain for conflicts 

    • 1520: rival European powers were trying to get in on the game

      • Plundering Spanish treasure ships (Fleury example)

    • Channel islands home to privateers and “bad guys” of seafaring 

    • Huguenot privateers object to the Church 

    • Calvinism and protestantism spread in France, focused on individual relationships with God and not bishop/priest structure

    • Francois Leclerc (aka: peg leg) was  a privateer who raided the Americas

  • No peace beyond the line (1559)

    • 1550s civil war in France intensifies catholic/protestant divide 

    • France and Spain sign a peace treaty (treaty of Cateau-Combiesis) that establishes peace between France and Spain

    • BUT the Treaty allows for fighting beyond the tropic of cancer in Caribbean 

    • “Peace” doesn’t apply in the Carribean 

  • The “Sea beggards” (1566-1648)

    • Dutch revolt: netherland areas, belgium had been very prosperous and densely populated 

    • Hapsburgs tighten control after influx of Calvinist ideas from Europe 

    • Reliance on privateering to get hold of the situation 

    • Dutch target overseas possessions of Spain 

  • The grand design (1623-1654)

    • Dutch organized process to conquer portuguese colony of Brazil 

    • Dutch want to conquer Portuguese colony of Brazil 

    • Dutch West India Company targets sugar, Brazil is leading sugar producer 

    • Dutch target Elimina (mine) in Ghana 

    • Dutch target Portuguese ships sailing in the Indian Ocean (trade in spices, ceramics, etc) - East India Company 

  • The “sea dogs” (1585-1604)

    • 1585-1604: “sea dogs” like English get involved in raiding and plundering 

    • Henry the 8th wants divorce, so the Church splits and the Church of England is created as a protestant power 

    • Mary the 1st becomes the queen of England and her husband (King of Spain) becomes a consort 

    • Elizabeth next in line and her hold on the crown is tenuous 

    • Elizabeth re-establishes protestantism and brings England into wars of religion and dynasticism 

    • Local protestant gentry and seafaring families produce raiders 

  • Charter companies (1555-1607)

    • Francis Drake was raider, attacked mule train from Peru to Panama in 1592 and seized silver and brought it back to England 

    • Drake seizes “Caca Fuego” ship on its way back to the Philippines  

    • Drake sails up West Coast of US, then across ocean into Asia to circumnavigate the world 

    • Spain declares war on English, and Drake attacks Spanish fleet 

    • Elizabeth claims that “god was on the side of the British 

    • Charter companies and joint stock companies used to finance voyages and ventures into the new world 

    • Roanoke colony founded through charter to Raleigh  

    • Virginia company charter to colonize Virginia 

    • Charters used for emergence of colonial projects 

    • English charter for caribbean islands and Barbados colony 

  • Barbados sugar boom (1640)

    • Barbados becomes an insight into sugar production, huge producer of sugar 

    • 1650, majority of Barbados is enslaved Africans 

    • Rum is a byproduct of sugar production 

    • Agriculture on Barbados done by hand with tools 


Maritime Empires 3.1: 

  • Flotas (1522-1762)

    • Spanish bringing warships and plunder from the Americas 

    • Routes taken by the Spanish silver sleets shown on maps 

    • Piet Hein captures spanish silver fleets 

    • Havana was an epicenter where fleets gathered before returning to Europe with goods 

    • Pieces of 8 are the defacto currency in Atlantic world 

    • Sugar and tobacco also used to trade 

    • French protestant privateers begin pirating (lots of french projects in the area, people from that become pirates)

  • Brothers of the Coast (1562-1689)

    • Band of sailors and hunters who exist on the run from Spanish Authorities 

    • Hunt feral cattle and grilled on Boucan 

    • Nomadic lifestyle 

    • Matelots = gay pairs of men 

    • Buccaneers exist outside of system, organization and heteronormativity 

  • Capture of Tortuga (1635)

    • Buccaneers establish in Hispaniola then captured Tortuga in 1635 with canoes and indigenous technology 

    • Tortuga comes under French and Huguenot rules as a governor/fiefdom 

    • Provides privateering cover for buccaneers raids 

  • Western Design (1654-1655)

    • Oliver Cromwell (lord protector of England, puritan) is a puritan and hates the Church and Catholics, begins an anti-catholic crusade in the Atlantic world + takes Ireland 

    • Cromwell wants to oust Spanish in Caribbean and believes in black legend 

    • Western design = central effort to colonize and conquer the Caribbean by English 

  • Conquest of Jamaica (1655)

    • English land at Barbados and men die of disease 

    • Next, English lay siege to Santo Domingo and are harassed by Maroons and fail the siege 

    • English then decide to move on to Jamaica, which had been used for labor by the Spanish 

    • Relatively easy conquest, English take the Island 

    • Watershed moment in history of the Atlantic because Jamaica is in the heart of the Caribbean and serves as a good launchpad 

  • Jamaica Buccaneers (1655-1688)

    • Attacks launched on Porto Cabello (near Caracas in Venezuela)

    • Morgan attacks coast of Columbia, seizes panama which is a silver hub

    • 1670: Spain finally acknowledges English dominion over Jamaica and Morgan is sent to face his deeds 

    • English appoint Morgan as deputy governor of Jamaica 

    • Morgan becomes powerful through acquisition of land and people in the Caribbean

    • English imperial project shifts with the establishment of the vice admiralty court and a desire for “stable business environment”

    • Greater focus on land and enslaved people as money making 

    • Jamaica becomes a trade stopping point/hub 

  • Sacking of Cartagena (1697)

    • Golden age of buccaneers ends with sacking of Cartagena and seizure of wealth 

    • Cartagena is integrated with larger European conflicts 

    • 1689 to 1697, Europe embroiled in other conflict with England and Spain 

    • Caribbean responsive to the dynamics and geopolitics of Europe 

    • European powers at war for long time, plunder and seizure of plunder increase during conflict 


Maritime Empires 3.2: 

  • Navigation Acts (1651)

    • Rise of privateering contracts and commissions 

    • Specification to take ships from Spanish crown and bring back “prizes” to the British ports with a high court (helps stabilize trade environment)

    • Privateering grants specify that england and spain are at war 

    • Some contracts prohibit breaking the bulk packages 

    • Plunder split between the crew and the financiers 

    • Triangle trade: trade of slaves, weapons, and goods that made a triangle 

    • Navigation Acts prohibit colonies from allowing ships from foreign powers to dock/make port (no trade with other countries)

    • Navigation Acts are a way to supplant Dutch dominance in the region (Cromwell’s goal)

    • Desire to undercut Dutch and keep all wealth in a single colonial power 

    • Recognizes the role of plantations as big money makers

  • Vice Admiralty Courts (1662) 

    • Creation of judicial system to manage colonies (vice admiralty courts and regulating trade)

    • Expansive legal regime 

    • Seals and official documents used to make legal system coherent 

  • Creation of the American Colonies (1607)

    • England starts establishing colonies in North America 

    • Jamestown established in 1607

    • Lots of plantation based economies 

    • Reframing US history as starting in 1619 when slaves were brought to Virginia 

    • Founding myth that the US started with the Mayflower 

  • Colonial Privateers (1689-1763)

    • New England was very engaged in privateering 

    • SC founded by charter from King Charles II, people coming from plantations in Caribbean 

    • Proof of the Northern ties to Caribbean include salted cod in diets 

    • Sailors go down from colonies to Carribean 

  • Baymen (1660)

  • Contraband (1634-1763)

  • Law of Nations (1625-1670)