Economic and political context
Piracy in the Caribbean Seas is a consequence of the game of the great nations. The Caribbean was at the center of the triangular trade in the 16th century.
The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divides the New World between the Spaniards and the Portuguese along a North-South line located 370 leagues (1770 km) west of the Cape Verde Islands. This gave Spain control of the Americas, a position it strengthened by obtaining a papal decree. The continent around the Caribbean was then called New Spain. The first ports were Cartagena, Panama, Santiago, Porto Bello and Santo Domingo.
Economically, the Spaniards exploited the mines of New Spain and Peru to extract large quantities of silver bullion. For the rest, it was essentially a trade in skins, because the Spaniards preferred animal husbandry to plantations.
Shipments of silver attracted pirates and corsairs both in the Caribbean and across the Atlantic to Seville. To avoid this, from 1560, the Spaniards adopted the convoy system:“la flota”. This convoy brought together a large number of merchant ships as well as numerous warships to counter any pirate attack. The flotilla departed from Seville (and later from Cadiz) each year, carrying passengers, troops and goods from the Old World to the colonies of the New World. In a way, these shipments from the outward journey served only as ballast because the main purpose was to bring back a year of production of silver and coins in Europe. This return trip was a prime target for the pirates, they discreetly followed the flotilla and attacked ships that fell behind the others. The classic Caribbean route started in the Lesser Antilles near New Spain, then north and through the Yucatan Channel (between Mexico and Cuba) to take advantage of the strong westerly winds (the westerlies) to return to Europe.
England, at odds with Spain since the repudiation by Henry VIII of Catherine of Aragon, aunt of Charles-Quint, in 1533, then the Anglican schism in 1534, finally, the United Provinces, in rebellion against the Spain since 1566, were determined to challenge Iberian exclusivity in the New World. For its part, France, through the voice of Francis I, had long contested Spanish legitimacy:"I would like to see the clause in Adam's will which excludes me from sharing the world". However, this king mainly sent expeditions to Canada (Jacques Cartier) and to present-day New York (Verazzano - New Angoulême). However, it was during an expedition to the West Indies that Verazzano disappeared. Under the grandsons of François I, especially Charles IX, attempts at colonization were mainly made by Huguenots (Protestants), such as Villegaignon in Brazil, and in the southern United States, hence perhaps the name " Caroline". The French were the first non-Spaniards to possess a colony in the Caribbean, in this case in St. Augustine (Florida), although its existence was short-lived. Aided by their respective governments, English, French and Dutch merchants and settlers ignored the treaty to invade Spanish territory:“No peace beyond the meridian”. The Spanish could not afford a sufficient military presence to control the area or to enforce their trade laws. This led to permanent smuggling to colonization in times of peace, and in times of war to piracy throughout the Caribbean.
In the 1620s, after the start of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), the Spanish presence in the Caribbean declined rapidly and the Spanish became increasingly dependent on African slave labor and maintained only a small presence military. Meanwhile, other countries began to establish colonies in the territories liberated by Spain. Barbados was the first truly viable English colony, and another colony established on the island of New Providence soon became a haven for pirates.
As the war continued in Europe, by the end of the 17th century, the situation in the Caribbean had stabilized. The colonies were larger and the adverse economic effects of piracy more apparent. England, whose presence had become much more important, stationed a naval squadron at Port Royal (Jamaica) from the 1680s. Acts of piracy became rarer and the hunt for pirates was more intense, although Spain established a coast guard (Costa Guarda) corsair.
Sociological context
In the 17th century and 18th century, the condition of a sailor was the toughest there is. The job was physically very demanding, the living space very small and nauseating and the food very insufficient. The profession of sailor also harbored a large number of dangers:maneuvering accidents, storms, illnesses, malnutrition, loss of food or drinking water constituted as many chances for a sailor to pass from life to death. .
Young people sold into the service of the ship or those who had been forcibly recruited (what was called the press, a British specialty) had not chosen to come on board and endure all the pain that this represented. Yet they had to serve in a system where they had almost no rights. An iron discipline which included corporal punishment and which could go as far as the death penalty applied to them. Sailors occupied one of the lowest positions on the social scale even though their activity allowed shipowners and traders to reap more than substantial profits.
Weak institutional and social power structures in the West Indies left room for revolt. The choice of piracy was not so much a career choice, aimed at personal enrichment as a break with the society of the time. The democratic organization of the crews, such as the cases reported where the pirates punished or killed the officers with cruelty while they very often spared the crews, illustrate this questioning of social rules, it was not only a question of looting and to get rich, but to speak out against injustice.
Most pirate crews had careers of less than a year, they were men with nothing to lose, sentenced to death for rebelling, which made them particularly formidable in battle. /P>