Buccaneer (privateer)

Buccaneers were pirates or privateers who were active in the Caribbean during the late seventeenth century, a period known as a “Golden Age” in the history of piracy. They were primarily of Dutch, English, or French nationalities and preyed upon the settlements and ships of the Spanish colonial empire. During that period, they were often referred to as privateers until the French introduced the term bucaniers or boucaniers, which later became buccaneers. Privateers were those with government licenses to engage in piracy against the shipping of other nations, while pirates were those who used the sea to commit theft against ships or ports. Privateers were authorized to keep a percentage of the plunder and give the government its cut.

Spain established a firm foothold in colonizing the Caribbean in the sixteenth century and did not face competition from other European countries until the early seventeenth century. Buccaneers were those adventurers whose attacks damaged the Spanish dominance in the region and whose work was initially supported by other nations seeking to establish their own claims. Tales about their exploits had a strong influence on future explorers and authors of adventure fiction.

Background

The arrival of Europeans in the Americas near the close of the fifteenth century vastly altered the lands and people. In 1492, Christopher Columbus went ashore in what is now the Bahamas and claimed many of the Caribbean islands for Spain. His report on the riches of the so-called “New World” prompted Spanish excursions to the Caribbean and eventually to mainland North America, where the Spanish plundered local resources, enslaved or massacred Indigenous peoples, and began establishing permanent European settlements. Columbus founded the first Spanish settlements on Hispaniola. The island became the hub from which others were explored and settled, beginning with Jamaica in 1509.

The Caribbean region consists of the Caribbean Sea, the islands within it, and nearby coasts. It is located southeast of North America, northwest of South America, and east of Central America and includes three main island groups: the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the Lesser Antilles.

For much of the sixteenth century, Spain had little competition in the region from other European powers and grew enormously wealthy. However, French and English settlers began arriving early in the seventeenth century. France established colonies on Martinique and Guadeloupe in the 1620s. England colonized St. Kitts, Barbados, Montserrat, Antigua, and Nevis during this period. With these developments, three of the most powerful European countries were actively settling in and trading from the region. At the same time, the Spanish Empire was on the decline after decades of war. Seventeen provinces of the Netherlands revolted against Spain, resulting in the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648) and Dutch independence. Involvement in the Thirty Years War (1618–1648) was another economic drain and cost Spain other territories, including Portugal.

Gradually, plantations of sugar cane and New World crops such as tobacco were established on multiple islands and became a major part of colonial economies. A sizeable shipping industry delivered these crops as well as many natural resources from the colonies of the New World to customers in the Old World; since these plantations relied on a brutal system of the labor of enslaved peoples to remain profitable, the Transatlantic Slave Trade became a key part of this industry as well. The economic value of the Caribbean was, by the mid-seventeenth century, well established. The high value of the islands as a source of sugar and other crops led to conflicts between the colonizing nations.

Overview

Spain’s decline provided opportunities for its rivals in the Caribbean. With the country’s forces and power strained in Europe, Spain was ill-prepared to protect its interests in the colonies from plunder. Through the first half of the seventeenth century, Dutch traders openly pirated Spanish shipping through the Dutch East and West India trading companies. After Dutch independence, Dutch pirates continued their attacks on Spain’s ships. Between 1649 and 1651, England more than doubled the size of its fleet. About this time, France was expanding its reach in the New World by establishing plantation settlements in the Caribbean.

The first buccaneers were displaced Europeans on Hispaniola; many of them were destitute men who had been indentured servants. They were social outcasts who hunted feral cattle on the island to survive. The French referred to their method of using a metal grate for cooking meat viande boucanée, and the men boucaniers. These men were the only people on the Spanish island who would trade with ships of other nations. They held little allegiance to political powers other than shared hostility toward Spain. The buccaneers developed a reputation as skilled navigators and skilled marksmen, making them much in demand among groups that were attacking Spanish shipping. The buccaneers operated outside the lines of amity, a maritime border that protected Europe but did not extend beyond the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The buccaneers operated under the code of “no peace beyond the line,” which held that attacks on Spanish shipping were justified outside the lines of amity.

French buccaneers primarily operated from the island of Tortuga. The governors of the colonies were generous with their commissions for attacking Spanish shipping. English buccaneers primarily operated from Jamaica and became important to its economy. Governor Thomas Modyford assumed his post in 1664 with orders to curtail privateering operations but saw the island depended on them for security. Jamaica’s economy relied on buccaneer trade because the plunder they traded on the island could be exported, providing funds that supported the plantations. In 1667 Modyford organized a force of 300 privateers who returned from a raid on Cuba with 250,000 Spanish pieces of eight.

The buccaneers established a democratic system. They elected their captains and followed the agreed-upon distribution of shares of plunder based on seniority and rank. They also established insurance practices for various injuries. Discipline for mutiny usually involved leaving them marooned.

The buccaneers were most active between 1650 and into the early 1700s. Their fame resulted from several members who wrote about their adventures. Among these were William Dampier, Basil Ringrose, and Lionel Wafer. Their tales are reflected in the fictional works of Daniel Defoe, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jonathan Swift, among others.

Many were attracted to the life of a buccaneer because it was one of the few avenues to power and wealth available to men of low birth and status. Among the more famous buccaneers were Alexandre Esquemeling, Henry Morgan, and Nicholas van Hoorn. Welsh Captain Morgan, for example, led a notorious raid on Portobello, Panama, in 1668 and captured the city of Panama in 1671. He used much of his share of the plunder to buy land in Jamaica. He was later knighted and appointed deputy governor of Jamaica. Much of what is known about buccaneering relies on Esquemeling’s detailed but somewhat exaggerated accounts, which were published in 1678 as De Americaensche zee-rovers, or “buccaneers of America” or "American pirates."

Sanctioned buccaneer raids began to come to an end in 1689 with the start of the War of the Grand Alliance (1689–1697), in which an alliance led by England, the Netherlands, and the Austrian Habsburgs sought to block French expansion. Without government commissions for profiteers, the seagoing thieves of the Caribbean were no longer heroes but were instead pirates with prices on their heads.

Buccaneers are a vital part of the culture of the Age of Exploration and provide historians with important information about the political, economic, and social systems in which they operated. However, they also help to understand and provide a perspective on modern piracy, which continues in the twenty-first century. Understanding the economic motivations and the social and political contexts in which buccaneers operated helps to understand the motivations of modern pirates. Many of the tactics and strategies of modern pirates remain heavily influenced by buccaneers. Understanding how buccaneers impacted trade and security, international relations, and interpreted ethics and legal stipulations provides greater insight into these issues in modern piracy. 

Bibliography

“Buccaneering Era.” Golden Age of Piracy, goldenageofpiracy.org/history/buccaneering-era.php. Accessed 16 May 2024.

Hall, Mark F. “Golden Age of Piracy: A Resource Guide.” The Library of Congress Web Guides, www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/pirates/index.html. Accessed 5 July 2021.

“The Introduction of Sugar Cane.” King’s College London, kingscollections.org/exhibitions/specialcollections/caribbean/sugar/sugarcane. Accessed 16 May 2024.

Lambert, David. “An Introduction to the Caribbean, Empire and Slavery.” British Museum, 16 Nov. 2017, www.bl.uk/west-india-regiment/articles/an-introduction-to-the-caribbean-empire-and-slavery#. Accessed 5 July 2021.

McGreevy, Nora. “The True History and Swashbuckling Myth Behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Namesake.” Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Feb. 2021, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-history-and-swashbuckling-myth-behind-tampa-bay-buccaneers-namesake-180976918/. Accessed 5 July 2021.

Olivier, Alexandre. “De Americaensche Zee-Roovers.” John Carter Brown Library, jcblibrary.org/collection/de-americaensche-zee-roovers. Accessed 16 May 2024.

Soulat, Jean, and John de Bry. “Archaeology of Piracy Between Caribbean Sea and the North American Coast of 17th and 18th Centuries: Shipwrecks, Material Culture and Terrestrial Perspectives.” Journal of Caribbean Archaeology, 2019, www.academia.edu/40249657/Archaeology‗of‗Piracy‗between‗Caribbean‗Sea‗and‗the‗North‗American‗Coast‗of‗17th‗and‗18th‗Centuries‗Shipwrecks‗Material‗Culture‗and‗Terrestrial‗Perspectives. Accessed 16 May 2024.

“Tortuga—The Pirate Stronghold.” Heritage Daily, 30 Dec. 2020, www.heritagedaily.com/2020/12/tortuga-the-pirate-stronghold/136613. Accessed 16 May 2024.