Week 8

The Colonial Era
The start of the Colonial Era is marked with the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. His first contact was in the newly discovered world was made with the Lucayans in the Bahamas, natives in Cuba and others along the northern coast of Hispaniola. Subsequently, the major sea powers in Europe sent expeditions to the New World with the premise of building trade networks and colonies and also to convert the native Latin-American people to Christianity. During this time, Spain had claimed the entire Caribbean - but they actually settled only the larger islands of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica and Trinidad.
With their aggressive posture, the Spaniards didn't make many friends in the Caribbean or with their neighbors from other parts of Europe. Sir Francis Drake was an English privateer (state sponsored pirate) who attacked many Spanish ships and forts in the Caribbean, including the San Juan (Puerto Rico) harbor in 1595. His exploits are legends even today. These exploits made him a hero to the English nobility, but a pirate to the Spaniards to whom he was known as El Draque (spanish) or Draco which is latin for "The Dragon" His most well known Caribbean adventure was the capture of the Spanish Silver Train at Nombre de Dios in March, 1573. Since he and other privateers were sponsored by and reported only to the Queen of England they could be viewed as state sponsored terrorists. Not that the Spanairds activites in the region were any better.

So the topic of Pirates and privatering in the Caribbean is interesting to me in that it seems to parallel the behavior of many countries in the world today. Lets find out more about the role they played in the Colonial Era.


Pirates of the Caribbean
Nowadays days, pirates, in general are well known and glamorized in books, movies and music and portrayed as cruel men with peg legs, parrots and buried treasure. Pirates have been around for a long time, long before the colonial era. For example, for several centuries, the Vikings ransacked, looted and plundered western European coasts and waters. In the past, Muslim pirates also terrorized the Mediterranean Sea, using naval warfare and thievery with the abduction of slaves.

Following Columbus's voyage in 1492, Spain was a dominant force in the Caribbean - mostly because of its strong Navy. Spain's powerful presence made bedfellows of the English, France and the Norwegians who endorsed the use of privately owned ships, which were known as privateers. The purpose of the privateers was to fight battles, conduct raids, disrupt trade and basically harass the Spaniards. This strategy was used in order for them to gain a foothold in the area without having to have a real navy there. Privateers would often split the loot (aka booty) they seized with the particular country that hired them. One of the most famous figures of this era was Henry Morgan, who was commissioned by the British government of Jamaica to carry out attacks against the Spanish. Morgan and the pirates under his command captured settlements in Cuba, Panama and Venezuela. According to the History Channel, Morgan had a reputation as a skilled but brutal military strategist who would hang men by their genitals to make them give up their possessions. Morgan was later knighted and appointed lieutenant governor of Jamaica. And the now well known Rum (Captain Morgan's) was named after him which is still sold today.

The lure of wealth and treasure was strong and and it was difficult to define the line between privateering and piracy,in which the sailors' actions aren't sponsored by any particular nation. During what is known as the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean, a number of legendary pirates emerged, including Edward Teach, a former English privateer who became known and feared as Blackbeard.

According to history, other famous pirates in that era included Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts, who captured hundreds of ships, and Captain "Calico" Jack Rackham, nicknamed for his colorful attire and also remembered for a crew that included two female pirates. Calico Jack was hung for his crimes in 1720 in Jamaica; but the two women in his crew avoided the same punishment by claiming to be pregnant. Clever. Another name you might be familiar with is Captain Kidd, who was executed for piracy in London in 1701. Some of Kidd's buried treasure was found at the eastern end of Long Island, New York, and legend has it that more loot is hidden nearby .

Even though pirates were lawbreakers who were loners, heretics, criminals and the "low life's" of society, they had their own code of conduct. For instance, Pirate crews elected their own captains and the loot or "treasure" was distributed equally among crew members. And if you stole from your mate and were caught you could be marooned or perhaps be made to "walk the plank". Pirate ships flew red or black flags, known as Jolly Rogers, which featured skulls and crossbones which symbolized death and intimidated their enemies. There is not any evidence that pirates buried their treasure as a regular practice. In that era, Port Royal, Jamaica, was the safe haven for pirates. It was a place of great wealth, degeneracy, corruption and vice and was also known as "the wickedest city on earth."

The pirate's reign of terror in the Colonial Era ended by the 1720s, when pirates were challenged by European military forces in the Caribbean. Piracy declined throughout the late 18th century and early 19th century. However, piracy has never disappeared completely. In recent years, cargo vessels have been targets of modern-day pirates. Today, the waters off Indonesia and Somalia are among the world's most dangerous.

About my sources
Video source author and historian Ed Kritzler talks about pirates in Jamaica on the History Channel. Wiki history sources are cited in the Wiki web pages. The History channel is part of the A and E television network and is partnered with many credible educational sources and programs such as; HISTORY EN ESPAÑOL: CELEBRATING HISPANIC HERITAGE

As the only member of the Cable in the Classroom organization to provide free Spanish language teaching materials, History en español™ takes its commitment to education and the Latino community very seriously. To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, History en español™ features lesson plans and biographies of significant Latino leaders and events from throughout history. Each issue of AETN’s Idea Book for Educators features a special Spanish-language History en español™ lesson plan for the classroom.

http://www.history.com/content/pirates/history-of-the-caribbean-pirates
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpMU-3co6j8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=089nVyM_ues
http://www.diageo.com/en-row/AboutDiageo/OurHistory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Caribbean
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Latin_America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Morgan


Part 2 - My Comments on Classmates Work for week 6

1. Michelle - Found out that the third largest pyramid in the world and the largest in Teotihuacan is called The Sun Pyramid

2. Susan said about the Aztecs "At the time of the European conquest, they called themselves either "Tenochca" or "Toltec," which was the name made up by the bearers of the Classic Mesoamerican culture."

3. Theresa on the Olmecs - The Olmecs adopted an ancient form of Mande script, which was first used by the Mande speaking tribes in North Africa. This would seem to mean that the Olmecs may have immigrated from Africa.

4. Logan worte that the Olmec religion mainly focused on Animalism. Among the animal kingdom the Olmec primarily focused on the worship of the jaguar.

5. Alyssa wrote about the Aztecs and said they would bring back capatives and give those hearts to their Gods. They would sacrafic one or even sometime thousands of people. (This was graphically portrayed in the Mel Gibson movie "Apocalypse Now".)

6. Kathy wrote an interesting story about the The Guarani who are a little known group of culturally related indigenous peoples of South America.

7. Candace wrote that she is very interested in Tattoo's and has often seen people with Aztec style tattoo's. Every Aztec tattoo was hand crafted and had individual meaning.

8. Robert wrote that It is said that the Aztecs established an empire so brilliant, that the only comparable empire in the New World was that of the Incas of Peru, and that it rivaled those of any other ancient cultures within America and the Old World.

9. Kim wrote that the Mayas are one of only 2 civilizations to develop a community in a tropical rainforest.

10. Melissa pointed out the she has some Aztec blood in her heritage and that was part of what drove her interest in writing about the Aztecs.