Pirates of the Spanish Main and the Golden Age of Pirates

The Caribbean sea was known as the Spanish main. The pirates from the Spanish main lived in a time called the Golden age of pirates. This period of time began when Queen Elizabeth from England made her best sailors privateers. A privateer was a captain of a ship who stole  valuable items from other ships. The difference between a privateer and pirate was that a privateer had a special license called a letter of marque from a national government. Some of the sailors who became privateers were Sir Francis Drake, Captain William Kidd, and Sir Walter Raleigh. They eventually became pirates themselves because pirates usually made a lot of money.

Buccaneers were pirates who lived with Indians in Hispaniola. They were called buccaneers  because the Indians they lived with used knives called boucans. Pirates from the Spanish Main used these boucan knives as weapons and it became their favorite weapon to use. Eventually these pirates were called Buccaneers.  Buccaneers stole from any ship they came  across. The buccaneers hated the Spanish  because the Spanish destroyed towns, other pirate ships, and killed any buccaneer they came across. Soon the buccaneers formed a group  called the brethren of the coast. They made a vow to fight against the Spanish. The most successful buccaneer was Sir Henry Morgan.

Buccaneers became so strong that  other non pirate ship captains insisted that the buccaneers be stopped. Amnesty was offered to any pirate who would stop being a pirate. In 1717, Captain Woodes Rodgers set a trap for the buccaneers at New Providence in the Bahamas. At least a thousand pirates were trapped there and a huge battle began.  Captain Rodgers did win that battle and the buccaneers were defeated. 1519-1780 was known as the Golden Age of Pirates.