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168-606: Buccaneers were a kind of privateer or free sailors particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from the Restoration in 1660 until about 1688, during a time when governments in the Caribbean area were not strong enough to suppress them. Originally the name applied to the landless hunters of wild boars and cattle in

336-441: A Westminster-style parliamentary system . Bustamante, at the age of 78, became the country's first prime minister. Strong economic growth, averaging approximately 6% per year, marked the first ten years of independence under conservative JLP governments; these were led by successive Prime Ministers Alexander Bustamante, Donald Sangster (who died of natural causes within two months of taking office) and Hugh Shearer . The growth

504-628: A two-party system , with power often alternating between the People's National Party (PNP) and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). The party with current administrative and legislative power is the Jamaica Labour Party, after its 2020 victory. There are also several minor parties who have yet to gain a seat in parliament; the largest of these is the National Democratic Movement (NDM). The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF)

672-516: A "corsair" by the governor of Panama. Nevertheless, these rough men had little concern for legal niceties, and exploited every opportunity to pillage Spanish targets, whether or not a letter of marque was available. Many of the letters of marque used by buccaneers were legally invalid, and any form of legal paper in that illiterate age might be passed off as a letter of marque. Furthermore, even those buccaneers who had valid letters of marque often failed to observe their terms. The legal status of buccaneers

840-727: A "revolution in naval strategy" and helped fill the need for protection that the Crown was unable to provide. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558–1603), she "encouraged the development of this supplementary navy". Over the course of her rule, the increase of Spanish prosperity through their explorations in the New World and the discovery of gold contributed to the deterioration of Anglo-Spanish relations. Elizabeth's authorisation of sea-raiders (known as Sea Dogs ) such as Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh allowed her to officially distance herself from their raiding activities while enjoying

1008-504: A Coast Guard fleet and a supporting Engineering Unit. The infantry regiment contains the 1st, 2nd and 3rd (National Reserve) battalions. The JDF Air Wing is divided into three flight units, a training unit, a support unit and the JDF Air Wing (National Reserve). The Coast Guard is divided between seagoing crews and support crews who conduct maritime safety and maritime law enforcement as well as defence-related operations. The role of

1176-415: A Spanish fleet raided Tortuga. 195 colonists were hung and 39 prisoners and 30 slaves were captured). The company could in turn issue letters of marque to subcontracting privateers who used the island as a base, for a fee. This soon became an important source of profit. Thus the company made an agreement with the merchant Maurice Thompson under which Thompson could use the island as a base in return for 20% of

1344-623: A brief conflict between France and the United States, fought largely at sea, and to the Royal Navy's procuring Bermuda sloops to combat the French privateers. In Europe, the practice of authorising sea-raiding dated to at least the 13th century but the word 'privateer' was coined sometime in the mid-17th century. Seamen who served on naval vessels were paid wages and given victuals, whereas mariners on merchantmen and privateers received

1512-564: A businessman and cousin of the Earl of Warwick (the namesake of Warwick Parish ), who presented a proposal for colonizing the island noting its strategic location "lying in the heart of the Indies & the mouth of the Spaniards". Elfrith was appointed admiral of the colony's military forces in 1631, remaining the overall military commander for over seven years. During this time, Elfrith served as

1680-564: A consecutive win occurred for the JLP was in 1980. However, the turnout at this election was just 37%, probably affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Jamaica is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy . The head of state is the King of Jamaica (currently King Charles III ), represented locally by the Governor-General of Jamaica . The governor-general is nominated by

1848-597: A decline in support for the Seaga government, exacerbated by criticism of the government's response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Having now de-emphasised socialism and adopting a more centrist position, Michael Manley and the PNP were re-elected in 1989 , winning 45 seats to the JLP's 15. The PNP went on to win a string of elections, under Prime Ministers Michael Manley (1989–1992), P. J. Patterson (1992–2005) and Portia Simpson-Miller (2005–2007). In

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2016-457: A directly elected House of Representatives. Andrew Holness has served as Prime Minister of Jamaica since March 2016. As a Commonwealth realm , with Charles III as its king , the appointed representative of the Crown is the Governor-General of Jamaica , an office held by Patrick Allen since 2009. The indigenous people , the Taíno, called the island Xaymaca in their language , meaning

2184-589: A federation of several of Britain's Caribbean colonies . Membership of the Federation proved to be divisive, however, and a referendum on the issue saw a slight majority voting to leave. After leaving the Federation, Jamaica attained full independence on 6 August 1962. The new state retained, however, its membership in the Commonwealth of Nations (with the British monarch as head of state) and adopted

2352-581: A force of Bermudian privateers who had been issued letters of marque by the Governor of Bermuda . Bermuda was in de facto control of the Turks Islands , with their lucrative salt industry, from the late 17th century to the early 19th. The Bahamas made perpetual attempts to claim the Turks for itself. On several occasions, this involved seizing the vessels of Bermudian salt traders. A virtual state of war

2520-677: A form of entertainment, and people came out to watch them as they would for a sporting event today. Newspapers reported details such as condemned men's last words, the prayers said by the priests, and descriptions of their final moments in the gallows. In England, most executions took place at Execution Dock on the River Thames in London . In the cases of more famous prisoners, usually captains, their punishments extended beyond death. Their bodies were enclosed in iron cages (for which they were measured before their execution) and left to swing in

2688-614: A former American privateer, mistaking her for a merchantman until too late; in this instance, however, the privateer prevailed. The United States used mixed squadrons of frigates and privateers in the American Revolutionary War . Following the French Revolution , French privateers became a menace to British and American shipping in the western Atlantic and the Caribbean, resulting in the Quasi-War ,

2856-861: A guide to other privateers and sea captains arriving in the Caribbean. Elfrith invited the well-known privateer Diego el Mulato to the island. Samuel Axe, one of the military leaders, also accepted letters of marque from the Dutch authorizing privateering. The Spanish did not hear of the Providence Island colony until 1635 when they captured some Englishmen in Portobelo , on the Isthmus of Panama . Francisco de Murga , Governor and Captain-General of Cartagena , dispatched Captain Gregorio de Castellar y Mantilla and engineer Juan de Somovilla Texada to destroy

3024-660: A high rate of emigration for work since the 1960s, there is a large Jamaican diaspora , particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The country has a global influence that belies its small size; it was the birthplace of the Rastafari religion, reggae music (and such associated genres as dub , ska and dancehall ), and it is internationally prominent in sports, including cricket , sprinting , and athletics . Jamaica has sometimes been considered

3192-417: A leading sugar exporter, with a plantation economy dependent on continued importation of African slaves and their descendants. The British fully emancipated all slaves in 1838, and many freedmen chose to have subsistence farms rather than to work on plantations. Beginning in the 1840s, the British began using Chinese and Indian indentured labourers for plantation work. Jamaicans achieved independence from

3360-650: A republic with a president. Jamaica's current constitution was drafted in 1962 by a bipartisan joint committee of the Jamaican legislature. It came into force with the Jamaica Independence Act, 1962, which was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom , which gave Jamaica independence. The Parliament of Jamaica is bicameral , consisting of the House of Representatives (Lower House) and

3528-506: A result of this incident Golding resigned and was replaced by Andrew Holness in 2011. Independence, however widely celebrated in Jamaica, has been questioned in the early 21st century. In 2011, a survey showed that approximately 60% of Jamaicans believe that the country would have been better off had it remained a British colony, with only 17% believing it would have been worse off, citing as problems years of social and fiscal mismanagement in

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3696-409: A share of the takings. Privateering thus offered otherwise working-class enterprises (merchant ships) with the chance at substantial wealth (prize money from captures). The opportunity mobilized local seamen as auxiliaries in an era when state capacity limited the ability of a nation to fund a professional navy via taxation. Privateers were a large part of the total military force at sea during

3864-571: A shoemaker to work as a privateer. Such was the success of Enríquez, that he became one of the wealthiest men in the New World. His fleet was composed of approx. 300 different ships during a career that spanned 35 years, becoming a military asset and reportedly outperforming the efficiency of the Armada de Barlovento . Enríquez was knighted and received the title of Don from Philip V , something unheard of due to his ethnic and social background. One of

4032-551: A social insurance system guaranteeing compensation for battle wounds at a worked-out scale. Buccaneers initially used small boats to attack Spanish galleons surreptitiously, often at night, and climb aboard before the alarm could be raised. Buccaneers were expert marksmen and would quickly kill the helmsman and any officers aboard. Buccaneers' reputation as cruel pirates grew to the point that, eventually, most victims would surrender, hoping they would not be killed. When buccaneers raided towns, they did not sail into port and bombard

4200-511: A war ended. The French Governor of Petit-Goave gave buccaneer Francois Grogniet blank privateering commissions, which Grogniet traded to Edward Davis for a spare ship so the two could continue raiding Spanish cities under a guise of legitimacy. New York Governors Jacob Leisler and Benjamin Fletcher were removed from office in part for their dealings with pirates such as Thomas Tew , to whom Fletcher had granted commissions to sail against

4368-505: A way to assert naval power before a strong Royal Navy emerged. Sir Andrew Barton , Lord High Admiral of Scotland , followed the example of his father, who had been issued with letters of marque by James III of Scotland to prey upon English and Portuguese shipping in 1485; the letters in due course were reissued to the son. Barton was killed following an encounter with the English in 1511. Sir Francis Drake , who had close contact with

4536-619: A wooden frame on which Tainos and Caribs slowly roasted or smoked meat, commonly manatee . The word was adopted into French as boucan , hence the name boucanier for French hunters who used such frames to smoke meat from feral cattle and pigs on Hispaniola . English colonists anglicised boucanier to buccaneer . About 1630, French interlopers were driven away from the island of Hispaniola and fled to nearby Tortuga . French buccaneers were established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, but lived at first mostly as hunters rather than robbers; their transition to full-time piracy

4704-518: A year while waiting to be rescued. One and a half kilometres west of St. Ann's Bay is the site of the first Spanish settlement on the island, Sevilla , which was established in 1509 by Juan de Esquivel but abandoned around 1524 because it was deemed unhealthy. The capital was moved to Spanish Town , then called St. Jago de la Vega , around 1534. Meanwhile, the Taínos began dying in large numbers, both from introduced diseases and from enslavement by

4872-722: A young man, Newport sailed with Sir Francis Drake in the attack on the Spanish fleet at Cadiz and participated in England's defeat of the Spanish Armada. During the war with Spain, Newport seized fortunes of Spanish and Portuguese treasure in fierce sea battles in the West Indies as a privateer for Queen Elizabeth I. He lost an arm whilst capturing a Spanish ship during an expedition in 1590, but despite this, he continued on privateering, successfully blockading Western Cuba

5040-447: Is no archaeological evidence of any human presence on Jamaica until about 500. A group known as the "Redware people" after their pottery arrived circa 600, followed by the Taíno circa 800, who most likely came from South America . They practised an agrarian and fishing economy, and at their height are thought to have numbered some 60,000 people, grouped into around 200 villages headed by caciques (chiefs). The south coast of Jamaica

5208-468: Is the small but professional military force of Jamaica. The JDF is based on the British military model with similar organisation, training, weapons and traditions. Once chosen, officer candidates are sent to one of several British or Canadian basic officer courses depending on the arm of service. Enlisted soldiers are given basic training at Up Park Camp or JDF Training Depot, Newcastle, both in St. Andrew. As with

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5376-448: The 1993 Jamaican general election , Patterson led the PNP to victory, winning 52 seats to the JLP's eight seats. Patterson also won the 1997 Jamaican general election , by another landslide margin of 50 seats to the JLP's 10 seats. Patterson's third consecutive victory came in the 2002 Jamaican general election , when the PNP retained power, but with a reduced seat majority of 34 seats to 26. Patterson stepped down on 26 February 2006, and

5544-577: The Brethren of the Coast . Although corsairs, also known as filibusters or freebooters , were largely lawless, privateers were nominally licensed by the authorities – first the French, later the English and Dutch – to prey on the Spanish, until their depredations became so severe they were suppressed. The term buccaneer derives from the Caribbean Arawak word buccan , which refers to

5712-910: The British Empire in policing the empire from 1795 to 1926. Other units in the JDF heritage include the early colonial Jamaica Militia, the Kingston Infantry Volunteers of WWI and reorganised into the Jamaican Infantry Volunteers in World War II. The West Indies Regiment was reformed in 1958 as part of the West Indies Federation , after dissolution of the Federation the JDF was established. The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) comprises an infantry Regiment and Reserve Corps, an Air Wing,

5880-616: The Caribbean . Jamaica lies about 145 km (78 nmi) south of Cuba, 191 km (103 nmi) west of Hispaniola (the island containing Haiti and the Dominican Republic ), and 215 km (116 nmi) southeast of the Cayman Islands (a British Overseas Territory ). The indigenous Taíno peoples of the island gradually came under Spanish rule after the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494. Many of

6048-776: The Caribbean . He is also famous for his short-lived 1598 capture of Fort San Felipe del Morro , the citadel protecting San Juan, Puerto Rico . He arrived in Puerto Rico on June 15, 1598, but by November of that year, Clifford and his men had fled the island due to fierce civilian resistance. He gained sufficient prestige from his naval exploits to be named the official Champion of Queen Elizabeth I. Clifford became extremely wealthy through his buccaneering but lost most of his money gambling on horse races. Captain Christopher Newport led more attacks on Spanish shipping and settlements than any other English privateer. As

6216-684: The Earl of Warwick , for whom Bermuda's Warwick Parish is named (the Warwick name had long been associated with commerce raiding, as exampled by the Newport Ship , thought to have been taken from the Spanish by Warwick the Kingmaker in the 15th century). Many Bermudians were employed as crew aboard privateers throughout the century, although the colony was primarily devoted to farming cash crops until turning from its failed agricultural economy to

6384-533: The English Civil War . Spanish and French attacks destroyed New Providence in 1703, creating a stronghold for pirates , and it became a thorn in the side of British merchant trade through the area. In 1718, Britain appointed Woodes Rogers as Governor of the Bahamas , and sent him at the head of a force to reclaim the settlement. Before his arrival, however, the pirates had been forced to surrender by

6552-400: The French Revolution , the buccaneer companies were run on lines in which liberty , equality and fraternity were the rule. In a buccaneer camp, the captain was elected and could be deposed by the votes of the crew. The crew, and not the captain, decided whether to attack a particular ship, or a fleet of ships. Spoils were evenly divided into shares; the captain received an agreed amount for

6720-586: The Grand Master of the Order, and were authorized to attack Muslim ships, usually merchant ships from the Ottoman Empire . The corsairs included knights of the Order, native Maltese people, as well as foreigners. When they captured a ship, the goods were sold and the crew and passengers were ransomed or enslaved, and the Order took a percentage of the value of the booty. Corsairing remained common until

6888-523: The Industrial Revolution proceeded, privateering became increasingly incompatible with modern states' monopoly on violence . Modern warships could easily outrace merchantmen , and tight controls on naval armaments led to fewer private-purchase naval weapons . Privateering continued until the 1856 Declaration of Paris , in which all major European powers stated that "Privateering is and remains abolished". The United States did not sign

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7056-536: The Nine Years' War (1688-1697) they were no longer an important factor. Until about 1688 the governments were not strong enough, and did not consistently attempt, to suppress the buccaneers. In January 1684, Havana responded to the attacks by the buccaneers of the Bahamas in the event known as the Raid on Charles Town . In the 1690s, the old buccaneering ways began to die out, as European governments began to discard

7224-558: The Rio Nuevo in 1658 resulted in Spanish defeats; in 1660 the Maroon community under the leadership of Juan de Bolas switched sides from the Spanish, and began supporting the English. With their help, the Spanish defeat was secured. In 1661 English civil government was formed and Roundhead soldiers turned their attention to governance and agricultural responsibilities. When the English captured Jamaica, most Spanish colonists fled, with

7392-543: The Rose , attacked a Spanish and a French privateer holding a captive English vessel. Defeating the two enemy vessels, the Rose then cleared out the thirty-man garrison left by the Spanish and French. Despite strong sentiments in support of the rebels, especially in the early stages, Bermudian privateers turned as aggressively on American shipping during the American War of Independence . The importance of privateering to

7560-453: The Sulu archipelago (now present-day Philippines ) held only a tenuous authority over the local Iranun communities of slave-raiders. The sultans created a carefully spun web of marital and political alliances in an attempt to control unauthorised raiding that would provoke war against them. In Malay political systems, the legitimacy and strength of their Sultan's management of trade determined

7728-460: The raid on Cartagena later that same year. Spanish authorities always viewed buccaneers as trespassers and a threat to their hegemony in the Caribbean basin, and over the second half of the 17th century, other European powers learned to perceive them in the same way. These new powers had appropriated and secured territories in the area and needed to protect them. Buccaneers who did not settle down on agriculture or some other acceptable business after

7896-532: The "Land of Wood and Water" or the "Land of Springs". Yamaye has been suggested as an early Taino name for the island as recorded by Christopher Columbus . Jamaicans often refer to their home island as "yaad" - the Jamaican Patois word for yard, meaning home. Other colloquial names such as "Jamrock", "Jamdown" ("Jamdung" in Jamaican Patois ), or briefly "Ja" are also widely used. There

8064-554: The 1,593 vessels captured by British naval and privateering vessels between the Great Lakes and the West Indies. Among the better known (native-born and immigrant) Bermudian privateers were Hezekiah Frith , Bridger Goodrich, Henry Jennings , Thomas Hewetson, and Thomas Tew . Bermudians were also involved in privateering from the short-lived English colony on Isla de Providencia , off the coast of Nicaragua. This colony

8232-425: The 15th century, the country "lacked an institutional structure and coordinated finance". When piracy became an increasing problem, merchant communities such as Bristol began to resort to self-help, arming and equipping ships at their own expense to protect commerce. The licensing of these privately owned merchant ships by the Crown enabled them to legitimately capture vessels that were deemed pirates. This constituted

8400-660: The 17th and 18th centuries. In the first Anglo-Dutch War , English privateers attacked the trade on which the United Provinces entirely depended, capturing over 1,000 Dutch merchant ships. During the subsequent war with Spain , Spanish and Flemish privateers in the service of the Spanish Crown, including the Dunkirkers , captured 1,500 English merchant ships, helping to restore Dutch international trade. British trade, whether coastal, Atlantic, or Mediterranean,

8568-557: The 18th century, preying on the shipping of Spain, France, and other nations during a series of wars, including the 1688 to 1697 Nine Years' War ( King William's War ); the 1702 to 1713 Queen Anne's War ; the 1739 to 1748 War of Jenkins' Ear ; the 1740 to 1748 War of the Austrian Succession ( King George's War ); the 1754 to 1763 Seven Years' War (known in the United States as the French and Indian War ), this conflict

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8736-620: The Americans as enabling the rebellious colonies to win their independence. Also, the Americans were dependent on Turks salt, and one hundred barrels of gunpowder were stolen from a Bermudian magazine and supplied to the rebels as orchestrated by Colonel Henry Tucker and Benjamin Franklin , and as requested by George Washington , in exchange for which the Continental Congress authorised the sale of supplies to Bermuda, which

8904-454: The Baptist preacher Samuel Sharpe . The rebellion resulted in hundreds of deaths and the destruction of many plantations, and led to ferocious reprisals by the plantocracy class. As a result of rebellions such as these, as well as the efforts of abolitionists, Britain outlawed slavery in its empire in 1834, with full emancipation from chattel slavery declared in 1838. The population in 1834

9072-662: The Bermudian economy had been increased not only by the loss of most of Bermuda's continental trade but also by the Palliser Act , which forbade Bermudian vessels from fishing the Grand Banks . Bermudian trade with the rebellious American colonies actually carried on throughout the war. Some historians credit the large number of Bermuda sloops (reckoned at over a thousand) built-in Bermuda as privateers and sold illegally to

9240-573: The British had outlawed the importation of slaves, some were still smuggled in from Spanish colonies and directly from Africa. While planning the abolition of slavery, the British Parliament passed laws to improve conditions for slaves. They banned the use of whips in the field and flogging of women; informed planters that slaves were to be allowed religious instruction, and required a free day during each week when slaves could sell their produce, prohibiting Sunday markets to enable slaves to attend church. The House of Assembly in Jamaica resented and resisted

9408-400: The British model, NCOs are given several levels of professional training as they rise up the ranks. Additional military schools are available for speciality training in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. The JDF is directly descended from the British Army 's West India Regiment , which was formed during the colonial era. The West India Regiment was used extensively throughout

9576-415: The Declaration over stronger language that protects all private property from capture at sea, but has not issued letters of marque in any subsequent conflicts. In the 19th century, many nations passed laws forbidding their nationals from accepting commissions as privateers for other nations. The last major power to flirt with privateering was Prussia in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War , when Prussia announced

9744-419: The Dutch colonies of St. Eustatius and Tobago . In 1666, however, when the French joined the Dutch in the war, the weakness of this policy was proved. The English hoped to capture the French plantations of St. Kitts , where there were new settlers of both nations, and so they declined to make a new agreement for neutrality. They made what was intended to be a surprise attack, but was an ignominious failure, and

9912-416: The English authorities sought to rein in the worst excesses of the pirates. In 1660, the population of Jamaica was about 4,500 white and 1,500 black. By the early 1670s, as the English developed sugar cane plantations worked by large numbers of slaves, black Africans formed a majority of the population. The Irish in Jamaica also formed a large part of the island's early population, making up two-thirds of

10080-408: The English settlers in the island had to surrender unconditionally. More than 8,000 of them were shipped away, and their property was seized by the French. Lord Willoughby , the able governor of Barbados, got together an expedition for a counter-stroke, but his fleet was broken up by a hurricane in which he perished. The French captured one island after another. In 1667 naval ships from England regained

10248-449: The European governments asserted their authority, the buccaneers first became separated by nationalities and then in time were suppressed altogether, leaving behind only dispersed bands of pirates. English settlers occupying Jamaica began to spread the name buccaneers with the meaning of pirates. The name became universally adopted later in 1684 when the first English translation of Alexandre Exquemelin 's book The Buccaneers of America

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10416-434: The French, but who ignored his commission to raid Mughal shipping in the Red Sea instead. Some privateers faced prosecution for piracy. William Kidd accepted a commission from King William III of England to hunt pirates but was later hanged for piracy. He had been unable to produce the papers of the prizes he had captured to prove his innocence. Privateering commissions were easy to obtain during wartime but when

10584-575: The Indian Ocean, the east coast of North America, or West Africa as well as in the Caribbean. Sometimes the buccaneers held more or less regular commissions as privateers, and they always preyed upon the Spaniards; but often they became mere pirates and plundered any nation. As a rule, the buccaneers called themselves privateers, and many sailed under the protection of a letter of marque granted by British, French or Dutch authorities. For example, Henry Morgan had some form of legal cover for all of his attacks, and expressed great indignation at being called

10752-468: The Isle of Wight by one, Captain James Reskinner [ James Reiskimmer ], a ship very richly laden with silver, gold, diamonds, pearls, jewels, and many other precious commodities taken by him in virtue of a commission of the said Earl [of Warwick] from the subjects of his Catholic Majesty ... to the infinite wrong and dishonour of his Catholic Majesty, to find himself thus injured and violated, and his subjects thus spoiled, robbed, impoverished and murdered in

10920-446: The JDF has been called on to assist the nation's police, the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), in fighting drug smuggling and a rising crime rate which includes one of the highest murder rates in the world. JDF units actively conduct armed patrols with the JCF in high-crime areas and known gang neighbourhoods. There has been vocal controversy as well as support of this JDF role. In early 2005, an Opposition leader, Edward Seaga, called for

11088-405: The JLP back in in 1980 under Edward Seaga , the JLP winning 51 seats to the PNP's nine seats. Firmly anti-Communist, Seaga cut ties with Cuba and sent troops to support the US invasion of Grenada in 1983. The economic deterioration, however, continued into the mid-1980s, exacerbated by a number of factors. The largest and third-largest alumina producers, Alpart and Alcoa , closed; and there

11256-434: The JLP's 13. The turnout was a very high 85 percent. However, the economy faltered in this period due to a combination of internal and external factors (such as the oil shocks). The rivalry between the JLP and PNP became intense, and political and gang-related violence grew significantly in this period. By 1980, Jamaica's gross national product had declined to some 25% below its 1972 level. Seeking change, Jamaicans voted

11424-406: The JLP's 16. Manley's government enacted various social reforms, such as a higher minimum wage , land reform, legislation for women's equality, greater housing construction and an increase in educational provision. Internationally he improved ties with the Communist bloc and vigorously opposed the apartheid regime in South Africa . In 1976, the PNP won another landslide, winning 47 seats to

11592-400: The JLP's 32. As a result, Simpson-Miller became Opposition Leader for a second time. The voter turnout dipped below 50% for the first time, registering just 48.37%. In the 2020 general election , Andrew Holness made history for the JLP by accomplishing a second consecutive win for the Jamaica Labour Party, winning 49 seats to 14 won by the PNP, led this time by Peter Phillips . The last time

11760-430: The Pacific. They had not been long on their journey when the Anglo-Spanish treaty of 1680 was signed, which at last stipulated for a real peace beyond the Line and indirectly recognised the right of the English to trade in West Indian waters. When the buccaneers returned by way of Cape Horn in 1682, the survivors found themselves treated as pirates. The French, within a very few years, also controlled their buccaneers, and in

11928-527: The Prime Minister of Jamaica and the entire Cabinet and then formally appointed by the monarch. All the members of the Cabinet are appointed by the governor-general on the advice of the prime minister. The monarch and the governor-general serve largely ceremonial roles, apart from their reserve powers for use in certain constitutional crisis situations. The position of the monarch has been a matter of continuing debate in Jamaica for many years; currently both major political parties are committed to transitioning to

12096-581: The Revolution they used their knowledge of Bermudians and of Bermuda, as well as their vessels, for the rebels' cause. In the 1777 Battle of Wreck Hill, brothers Charles and Francis Morgan, members of a large Bermudian enclave that had dominated Charleston, South Carolina and its environs since settlement, captaining two sloops (the Fair American and the Experiment , respectively), carried out

12264-460: The Senate (Upper House). Members of the House (known as Members of Parliament or MPs ) are directly elected, and the member of the House of Representatives who, in the governor-general's best judgement, is best able to command the confidence of a majority of the members of that House, is appointed by the governor-general to be the prime minister. Senators are nominated jointly by the prime minister and

12432-523: The Spanish on the coast of Cuba. They called this activity buccaneering. Their principal station was Tortuga, but from time to time they seized other strongholds, like Providence, and they were welcomed with their booty in ports like Port Royal in Jamaica . At first they were international. In 1663 it was estimated that there were fifteen of their ships with nearly a thousand men, English, French, and Dutch, belonging to Jamaica and Tortuga. As time went on and

12600-509: The Spanish rulers, and some turned to piracy against the Spanish Empire's shipping . By the early 17th century it is estimated that no more than 2,500–3,000 people lived on Jamaica. The English began taking an interest in the island and, following a failed attempt to conquer Santo Domingo on Hispaniola , Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables led an invasion of Jamaica in 1655. Battles at Ocho Rios in 1657 and

12768-487: The Spanish. As a result, the Spanish began importing slaves from Africa to the island. Many slaves managed to escape, forming autonomous communities in remote and easily defended areas in the interior of Jamaica, mixing with the remaining Taino; these communities became known as Maroons . Many Jews fled the Spanish Inquisition to live on the island. They lived as conversos and were often persecuted by

12936-498: The Taíno. Christopher Columbus was the first European to see Jamaica, claiming the island for Spain after landing there in 1494 on his second voyage to the Americas. His probable landing point was Dry Harbour, called Discovery Bay , and St. Ann's Bay was named "Saint Gloria" by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land. He later returned in 1503; however, he was shipwrecked and he and his crew were forced to live on Jamaica for

13104-524: The United Kingdom on 6 August 1962. With 2.8 million people, Jamaica is the third most populous Anglophone country in the Americas (after the United States and Canada), and the fourth most populous country in the Caribbean. Kingston is the country's capital and largest city. Most Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, with significant European , East Asian (primarily Chinese ), Indian , Lebanese , and mixed-race minorities. Because of

13272-503: The United States whilst also developing links with Communist states such as Cuba. The optimism of the first decade was accompanied by a growing sense of inequality among many Afro-Jamaicans, and a concern that the benefits of growth were not being shared by the urban poor, many of whom ended up living in crime-ridden shanty towns in Kingston. This led to the voters electing the PNP under Michael Manley in 1972. The PNP won 37 seats to

13440-448: The air until the flesh rotted off them—a process that could take as long as two years. The bodies of captains such as William "Captain" Kidd , Charles Vane , William Fly , and Jack Rackham ("Calico Jack") were all treated this way. It is doubtful many buccaneers got off with just a time in the pillory. However, a pirate who was flogged could very well spend some time in the pillory after being beaten. "The most common shaming punishment

13608-540: The alternate name of the Islands of Bermuda commemorating Admiral Sir George Somers ) in 1625, discovered two islands off the coast of Nicaragua, 80 kilometres (50 mi) apart from each other. Camock stayed with 30 of his men to explore one of the islands, San Andrés, while Elfrith took the Warwicke back to Bermuda bringing news of Providence Island. Bermuda Governor Bell wrote on behalf of Elfrith to Sir Nathaniel Rich,

13776-516: The best-allied plunder of British trade, particularly in the West Indies. During the American Revolutionary War , the Continental Congress , and some state governments (on their own initiative), issued privateering licenses, authorizing "legal piracy", to merchant captains in an effort to take prizes from the British Navy and Tory (Loyalist) privateers. This was done due to the relatively small number of commissioned American naval vessels and

13944-460: The black majority, led to the outbreak of the Morant Bay rebellion in 1865, led by Paul Bogle , which was put down by Governor John Eyre with such brutality that he was recalled from his position. His successor, John Peter Grant , enacted a series of social, financial and political reforms while aiming to uphold firm British rule over the island, which became a Crown Colony in 1866. In 1872

14112-706: The booty. In March 1636 the Company dispatched Captain Robert Hunt on the Blessing to assume the governorship of what was now viewed as a base for privateering. Depredations continued, leading to growing tension between England and Spain, which were still technically at peace. On 11 July 1640, the Spanish Ambassador in London complained again, saying he understands that there is lately brought in at

14280-600: The brig Rover and Joseph Barss of the schooner Liverpool Packet . The latter schooner captured over 50 American vessels during the War of 1812 . The English colony of Bermuda (or the Somers Isles ), settled accidentally in 1609, was used as a base for English privateers from the time it officially became part of the territory of the Virginia Company in 1612, especially by ships belonging to Robert Rich ,

14448-674: The capital was transferred from Spanish Town to Kingston. In 1907, Jamaica was struck by an earthquake which, together with the subsequent fire, resulted in considerable destruction in Kingston and caused the deaths of between 800 and 1,000 people. Unemployment and poverty remained a problem for many Jamaicans. Various movements seeking political change arose as a result, most notably the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League founded by Marcus Garvey in 1917. As well as seeking greater political rights and an improvement for

14616-695: The centres of international strife throughout the eighteenth century although by that time it was regulated in the same way as in Europe, and had become inseparable from the European wars. During the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1665, de Ruyter attacked Barbados with a strong squadron, and the English had no choice but to base their defence on the buccaneers whom the governor of Jamaica had previously been trying to suppress. They were unmanageable and destroyed where they conquered, but they mastered

14784-509: The church. The Spanish took sixty guns, and captured the 350 settlers who remained on the island – others had escaped to the Mosquito Coast. They took the prisoners to Cartagena. The women and children were given a passage back to England. The Spanish found gold, indigo, cochineal and six hundred black slaves on the island, worth a total of 500,000 ducats, some of the accumulated booty from the raids on Spanish ships. Rather than destroy

14952-452: The city the most prosperous in the Caribbean. There were even Royal Navy officers sent to lead the buccaneers, such as Christopher Myngs . Their activities went on irrespective of whether England happened to be at war with Spain or France. Among the leaders of the buccaneers were two Frenchmen, Jean-David Nau, better known as François l'Ollonais , and Daniel Montbars , who destroyed so many Spanish ships and killed so many Spaniards that he

15120-503: The colony. The Spanish were repelled and forced to retreat "in haste and disorder". After the attack, King Charles I of England issued letters of marque to the Providence Island Company on 21 December 1635 authorizing raids on the Spanish in retaliation for a raid that had destroyed the English colony on Tortuga earlier in 1635 ( Tortuga had come under the protection of the Providence Island Company. In 1635

15288-514: The command of the sea and made various conquests, but the Peace of Breda re-established the status quo in March of that year. Henry Morgan was knighted in 1674 and became lieutenant-governor of Jamaica. In the late 1670s there was a succession of raids on Spanish ports. In 1680 a party made its way across the Isthmus of Panama and, sailing in captured Spanish ships, pillaged the coasts and commerce of

15456-489: The commanding officer of the vessel was in possession of a valid Letter of Marque (fr. Lettre de Marque or Lettre de Course ), and the officers and crew conducted themselves according to contemporary admiralty law . By acting on behalf of the French Crown, if captured by the enemy, they could claim treatment as prisoners of war , instead of being considered pirates. Because corsairs gained a swashbuckling reputation,

15624-490: The condition of workers, Garvey was also a prominent Pan-Africanist and proponent of the Back-to-Africa movement . He was also one of the chief inspirations behind Rastafari, a religion founded in Jamaica in the 1930s that combined Christianity with an Afrocentric theology focused on the figure of Haile Selassie , Emperor of Ethiopia . Despite occasional persecution, Rastafari grew to become an established faith on

15792-427: The country. Holness and the JLP were defeated in the 2011 Jamaican general election , which saw Portia Simpson-Miller and the PNP return to power. The number of seats had been increased to 63, and the PNP swept to power with a landslide 42 seats to the JLP's 21. The voter turnout was 53.17%. Holness's JLP won the 2016 general election narrowly, defeating Simpson-Miller's PNP, on 25 February. The PNP won 31 seats to

15960-581: The creation of a 'volunteer navy' of ships privately-owned and -manned, but eligible for prize money. (Prussia argued that the Declaration did not forbid such a force, because the ships were subject to naval discipline.) In England , and later the United Kingdom , the ubiquity of wars and the island nation's reliance on maritime trade enabled the use of privateers to great effect. England also suffered much from other nations' privateering. During

16128-431: The defences, as naval forces typically did. Instead, they secretly beached their ships out of sight of their target, marched overland, and attacked the towns from the landward side, which was usually less fortified. Their raids relied mainly on surprise and speed. The sack of Campeche was considered the first such raid and many others that followed replicated the same techniques including the attack on Veracruz in 1683 and

16296-517: The defenses, as instructed, Pimienta left a small garrison of 150 men to hold the island and prevent occupation by the Dutch. Later that year, Captain John Humphrey , who had been chosen to succeed Captain Butler as governor, arrived with a large group of dissatisfied settlers from New England. He found the Spanish occupying the islands, and sailed away. Pimienta's decision to occupy the island

16464-413: The end of the 17th century, the buccaneers' attacks began to disrupt France and England's merchant traffic with Spanish America , such that merchants who had previously regarded the buccaneers as a defence against Spain now saw them as a threat to commerce, and colonial authorities grew hostile. This change in political atmosphere, more than anything else, put an end to buccaneering. A hundred years before

16632-545: The end of the 18th century. During King George's War , approximately 36,000 Americans served aboard privateers at one time or another. During the Nine Years War , the French adopted a policy of strongly encouraging privateers, including the famous Jean Bart , to attack English and Dutch shipping. England lost roughly 4,000 merchant ships during the war. In the following War of Spanish Succession , privateer attacks continued, Britain losing 3,250 merchant ships. In

16800-401: The event the privateer turned pirate. Other European countries followed suit. The shift from treason to property also justified the criminalisation of traditional sea-raiding activities of people Europeans wished to colonise. The legal framework around authorised sea-raiding was considerably murkier outside of Europe. Unfamiliarity with local forms of authority created difficulty determining who

16968-403: The exception of Spanish Jews, who chose to remain. Spanish slave holders freed their slaves before leaving. Many slaves dispersed into the mountains, joining the already established maroon communities. During the centuries of slavery, Jamaican Maroons established free communities in the mountainous interior of Jamaica, where they maintained their freedom and independence for generations, under

17136-407: The extent he exerted control over the sea-raiding of his coastal people. Privateers were implicated in piracy for a number of complex reasons. For colonial authorities, successful privateers were skilled seafarers who brought in much-needed revenue, especially in newly settled colonial outposts. These skills and benefits often caused local authorities to overlook a privateer's shift into piracy when

17304-560: The following year. In 1592, Newport captured the Portuguese carrack Madre de Deus (Mother of God), valued at £500,000. Sir Henry Morgan was a successful privateer. Operating out of Jamaica, he carried on a war against Spanish interests in the region, often using cunning tactics. His operation was prone to cruelty against those he captured, including torture to gain information about booty, and in one case using priests as human shields . Despite reproaches for some of his excesses, he

17472-615: The gold gained from these raids. English ships cruised in the Caribbean and off the coast of Spain, trying to intercept treasure fleets from the Spanish Main . During the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604) England continued to rely on private ships-of-war to attack Iberian shipping because the Queen had insufficient finance to fund this herself. After the war ended many unemployed English privateers turned to piracy. Elizabeth

17640-497: The highest time of peace, league and amity with your Majesty. Nathaniel Butler , formerly Governor of Bermuda, was the last full governor of Providence Island, replacing Robert Hunt in 1638. Butler returned to England in 1640, satisfied that the fortifications were adequate, deputizing the governorship to Captain Andrew Carter. In 1640, don Melchor de Aguilera , Governor and Captain-General of Cartagena, resolved to remove

17808-502: The indigenous people either were killed or died of diseases, after which the Spanish brought large numbers of Africans to Jamaica as slaves. The island remained a possession of Spain, under the name Santiago , until 1655, when England (part of what would become the Kingdom of Great Britain ) conquered it and named it Jamaica . It became an important part of the colonial British West Indies . Under Britain's colonial rule, Jamaica became

17976-400: The intolerable infestation of pirates on the island. Taking advantage of having infantry from Castile and Portugal wintering in his port, he dispatched six hundred armed Spaniards from the fleet and the presidio, and two hundred black and mulatto militiamen under the leadership of don Antonio Maldonado y Tejada , his Sergeant Major, in six small frigates and a galleon. The troops were landed on

18144-631: The island, and a fierce fight ensued. The Spanish were forced to withdraw when a gale blew up and threatened their ships. Carter had the Spanish prisoners executed. When the Puritan leaders protested against this brutality, Carter sent four of them home in chains. The Spanish acted decisively to avenge their defeat. General Francisco Díaz Pimienta was given orders by King Philip IV of Spain , and sailed from Cartagena to Providence with seven large ships, four pinnaces , 1,400 soldiers and 600 seamen, arriving on 19 May 1641. At first, Pimienta planned to attack

18312-598: The island, later spreading abroad. The Great Depression of the 1930s hit Jamaica hard. As part of the British West Indian labour unrest of 1934–39 , Jamaica saw numerous strikes, culminating in a strike in 1938 that turned into a riot. As a result, the British government instituted a commission to look into the causes of the disturbances; their report recommended political and economic reforms in Britain's Caribbean colonies. A new House of Representatives

18480-418: The issuing of privateering contracts. These contracts allowed an income option to the inhabitants of these colonies that were not related to the Spanish conquistadores. The most well-known privateer corsairs of the eighteenth century in the Spanish colonies were Miguel Enríquez of Puerto Rico and José Campuzano-Polanco of Santo Domingo . Miguel Enríquez was a Puerto Rican mulatto who abandoned his work as

18648-419: The largely uninhabited areas of Tortuga and Hispaniola . The meat they caught was smoked over a slow fire in little huts the French called boucans to make viande boucanée – jerked meat or jerky – which they sold to the corsairs who preyed on the (largely Spanish) shipping and settlements of the Caribbean. Eventually the term was applied to the corsairs and (later) privateers themselves, also known as

18816-488: The leadership of Maroon leaders such as Juan de Serras . Meanwhile, the Spanish made several attempts to re-capture the island, prompting the British to support pirates attacking Spanish ships in the Caribbean; as a result piracy became rampant on Jamaica, with the city of Port Royal becoming notorious for its lawlessness. Spain later recognised English possession of the island with the Treaty of Madrid (1670) . After that,

18984-458: The legitimacy of their prize claim. If the nationality of a prize was not the enemy of the commissioning sovereign, the privateer could not claim the ship as a prize. Doing so would be an act of piracy. In British law, under the Offences at Sea Act 1536 , piracy, or raiding a ship without a valid commission, was an act of treason . By the late 17th century, the prosecution of privateers loyal to

19152-491: The mainland of Spanish America , known as the Spanish Main , and sacked cities. Perhaps what distinguished the buccaneers from earlier Caribbean sailors was their use of permanent bases in the West Indies. During the mid 17th century, the Bahama Islands attracted many lawless people who had taken over New Providence . Encouraged by its large harbour, they were joined by several pirates who made their living by raiding

19320-498: The most famous privateers from Spain was Amaro Pargo . Corsairs (French: corsaire) were privateers, authorized to conduct raids on shipping of a nation at war with France, on behalf of the French Crown. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds. Although not French Navy personnel, corsairs were considered legitimate combatants in France (and allied nations), provided

19488-473: The new laws. Members, with membership then restricted to European-descended Jamaicans, claimed that the slaves were content and objected to Parliament's interference in island affairs. Slave owners feared possible revolts if conditions were lightened. The British abolished the slave trade in 1807, but not the institution itself. In 1831 a huge slave rebellion, known as the Baptist War , broke out, led by

19656-615: The next 20 years, several epidemics of cholera , scarlet fever , and smallpox hit the island, killing almost 60,000 people (about 10 per day). Nevertheless, in 1871 the census recorded a population of 506,154 people, 246,573 of whom were males, and 259,581 females. Their races were recorded as 13,101 white, 100,346 coloured (known as the Browning Class), and 392,707 black. There was an economic slump in this period, with many Jamaicans living in poverty. Dissatisfaction with this, and continued racial discrimination and marginalisation of

19824-491: The old state of affairs in which, even when they were at peace with Spain and Portugal in Europe, there was 'no peace beyond the Line '. The West Indies were beyond the range of the European international system. Sometimes this was for their advantage but on the whole, with the intermingled possessions, trade rivalries, and disputes about territorial rights, the local conditions led to conflicts. The West Indies continued to be one of

19992-601: The only attack on Bermuda during the war. The target was a fort that guarded a little used passage through the encompassing reef line. After the soldiers manning the fort were forced to abandon it, they spiked its guns and fled themselves before reinforcements could arrive. When the Americans captured the Bermudian privateer Regulator , they discovered that virtually all of her crew were black slaves. Authorities in Boston offered these men their freedom, but all 70 elected to be treated as prisoners of war . Sent as such to New York on

20160-687: The parliamentary Leader of the Opposition and are then appointed by the governor-general. The Judiciary of Jamaica operates on a common law system derived from English law and Commonwealth of Nations precedents. The court of final appeal is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council , though during the 2000s Parliament attempted to replace it with the Caribbean Court of Justice . Jamaica has traditionally had

20328-460: The policy of "no peace beyond the Line ". Buccaneers were hard to control; some even embroiled their colonies in unwanted wars. Notably, at the 1697 joint French-buccaneer siege of Cartagena , led by Bernard Desjean, Baron de Pointis , the buccaneers and the French regulars parted on extremely bitter terms. Less tolerated by local Caribbean officials, buccaneers increasingly turned to legal work or else joined regular pirate crews who sought plunder in

20496-599: The poorly defended east side, and the English rushed there to improvise defenses. With the winds against him, Pimienta changed plans and made for the main New Westminster harbor and launched his attack on 24 May. He held back his large ships to avoid damage, and used the pinnaces to attack the forts. The Spanish troops quickly gained control, and once the forts saw the Spanish flag flying over the governor's house, they began negotiations for surrender. On 25 May 1641, Pimienta formally took possession and celebrated mass in

20664-477: The potential for a greater income and profit than obtainable as a merchant seafarer or fisher. However, this incentive increased the risk of privateers turning to piracy when war ended. The commission usually protected privateers from accusations of piracy, but in practice the historical legality and status of privateers could be vague. Depending on the specific sovereign and the time period, commissions might be issued hastily; privateers might take actions beyond what

20832-474: The pressing need for prisoner exchange . Jamaica Jamaica ( / dʒ ə ˈ m eɪ k ə / jə- MAY -kə ; Jamaican Patois : Jumieka [dʒʌˈmie̯ka] ) is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies . At 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi), it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola —of the Greater Antilles and

21000-520: The previous two decades, declined significantly. In 2007 the PNP was defeated by the JLP by a narrow margin of 32 seats to 28, with a turnout of 61.46%. This election ended 18 years of PNP rule, and Bruce Golding became the new prime minister. Golding's tenure (2007–2010) was dominated by the effects of the global recession , as well as the fallout from an attempt by Jamaican police and military to arrest drug lord Christopher Coke in 2010 which erupted in violence, resulting in over 70 deaths. As

21168-500: The privateer's persona as heroic patriots. British privateers last appeared en masse in the Napoleonic Wars . England and Scotland practiced privateering both separately and together after they united to create the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. It was a way to gain for themselves some of the wealth the Spanish and Portuguese were taking from the New World before beginning their own trans-Atlantic settlement, and

21336-729: The property of a small planter-class. In the 18th century, slaves ran away and joined the Maroons in increasing numbers, and resulted in The First Maroon War (1728 – 1739/40), which ended in stalemate. The British government sued for peace, and signed treaties with the Leeward Maroons led by Cudjoe and Accompong in 1739, and the Windward Maroons led by Quao and Queen Nanny in 1740. A large slave rebellion, known as Tacky's War , broke out in 1760 but

21504-487: The return voyage to Spain. The Spaniards also tried to drive them out of Tortuga, but the buccaneers were joined by many more French, Dutch , and English adventurers who turned to piracy. They set their eyes on Spanish shipping, generally using small craft to attack galleons in the vicinity of the Windward Passage . With the support and encouragement of rival European powers, they became strong enough to sail for

21672-705: The sea after the 1684 dissolution of the Somers Isles Company (a spin-off of the Virginia Company, which had overseen the colony since 1615). With a total area of 54 square kilometres (21 sq mi) and lacking any natural resources other than the Bermuda cedar , the colonists applied themselves fully to the maritime trades, developing the speedy Bermuda sloop , which was well suited both to commerce and to commerce raiding. Bermudian merchant vessels turned to privateering at every opportunity in

21840-423: The ship, plus a portion of the share of the prize money , usually five or six shares. Crews generally had no regular wages, being paid only from their shares of the plunder, a system called " no purchase, no pay " by Modyford or "no prey, no pay" by Enqueueing. There was a strong esprit among buccaneers. This, combined with overwhelming numbers, allowed them to win battles and raids. There was also, for some time,

22008-414: The sloop Duxbury , they seized the vessel and sailed it back to Bermuda. One-hundred and thirty prizes were brought to Bermuda in the year between 4th day of April 1782 and the 4th day of April 1783 alone, including three by Royal Naval vessels and the remainder by privateers. The War of 1812 saw an encore of Bermudian privateering, which had died out after the 1790s. The decline of Bermudian privateering

22176-411: The so-called Golden Age of Piracy proved a nuisance to them, too. Spanish anti-pirate practices became thus a model for all recently arrived colonial governments. Some expanded them. When caught by anti-pirate English authorities, 17th and 18th century buccaneers received justice in a summary fashion, and many ended their lives by "dancing the hempen jig", a euphemism for hanging. Public executions were

22344-565: The sovereign, was responsible for some damage to Spanish shipping, as well as attacks on Spanish settlements in the Americas in the 16th century. He participated in the successful English defence against the Spanish Armada in 1588, though he was also partly responsible for the failure of the English Armada against Spain in 1589. Sir George Clifford, 3rd Earl of Cumberland , was a successful privateer against Spanish shipping in

22512-401: The subsequent conflict, the War of Austrian Succession , the Royal Navy was able to concentrate more on defending British ships. Britain lost 3,238 merchantmen, a smaller fraction of her merchant marine than the enemy losses of 3,434. While French losses were proportionally severe, the smaller but better protected Spanish trade suffered the least and it was Spanish privateers who enjoyed much of

22680-562: The support battalion is to provide support to boost numbers in combat and issue competency training in order to allow for the readiness of the force. The 1st Engineer Regiment was formed due to an increased demand for military engineers and their role is to provide engineering services whenever and wherever they are needed. The Headquarters JDF contains the JDF Commander, Command Staff as well as Intelligence, Judge Advocate office, Administrative and Procurement sections. In recent years

22848-495: The usurped King James II for piracy began to shift the legal framework of piracy away from treason towards crime against property. As a result, privateering commissions became a matter of national discretion. By the passing of the Piracy Act 1717 , a privateer's allegiance to Britain overrode any allegiance to a sovereign providing the commission. This helped bring privateers under the legal jurisdiction of their home country in

23016-589: The vessels and recruit large crews, much larger than a merchantman or a naval vessel would carry, in order to crew the prizes they captured. Privateers generally cruised independently, but it was not unknown for them to form squadrons, or to co-operate with the regular navy. A number of privateers were part of the English fleet that opposed the Spanish Armada in 1588. Privateers generally avoided encounters with warships, as such encounters would be at best unprofitable. Still, such encounters did occur. For instance, in 1815 Chasseur encountered HMS St Lawrence , herself

23184-838: The war ended and sovereigns recalled the privateers, many refused to give up the lucrative business and turned to piracy. Boston minister Cotton Mather lamented after the execution of pirate John Quelch : Yea, since the privateering stroke so easily degenerates into the piratical and the privateering trade is usually carried on with so un-Christian a temper and proves an inlet unto so much debauchery and iniquity and confusion, I believe I shall have good men concur with me in wishing that privateering may no more be practised except there may appear more hopeful circumstances to encourage it. Privateers who were considered legitimate by their governments include: Entrepreneurs converted many different types of vessels into privateers, including obsolete warships and refitted merchant ships. The investors would arm

23352-518: The white population on the island in the late 17th century, twice that of the English population. They were brought in as indentured labourers and soldiers after the conquest of 1655. The majority of Irish were transported by force as political prisoners of war from Ireland as a result of the ongoing Wars of the Three Kingdoms . Migration of large numbers of Irish to the island continued into the 18th century. A limited form of local government

23520-511: The word "corsair" is also used generically as a more romantic or flamboyant way of referring to privateers, or even to pirates. The Barbary pirates of North Africa as well as Ottomans were sometimes called "Turkish corsairs". Corsairing ( Italian : corso ) was an important aspect of Malta's economy when the island was ruled by the Order of St. John , although the practice had begun earlier. Corsairs sailed on privately owned ships on behalf of

23688-464: The world's least populous cultural superpower . Jamaica is an upper-middle-income country with an economy heavily dependent on tourism; it has an average of 4.3 million tourists a year. The country performs favourably in measures of press freedom , democratic governance and sustainable well-being . Jamaica is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with power vested in the bicameral Parliament of Jamaica , consisting of an appointed Senate and

23856-529: The years prior to American independence, mostly to the American colonies. Many Bermudians occupied prominent positions in American seaports, from where they continued their maritime trades (Bermudian merchants controlled much of the trade through ports like Charleston, South Carolina , and Bermudian shipbuilders influenced the development of American vessels, like the Chesapeake Bay schooner ), and in

24024-477: Was 371,070, of whom 15,000 were white, 5,000 free black; 40,000 "coloured" or free people of colour ( mixed race ); and 311,070 were slaves. The resulting labour shortage prompted the British to begin to "import" indentured servants to supplement the labour pool, as many freedmen resisted working on the plantations. Workers recruited from India began arriving in 1845, Chinese workers in 1854. Many Jamaicans are descendants of South Asian and Chinese people. Over

24192-464: Was a significant reduction in production by the second-largest producer, Alcan . Reynolds Jamaica Mines, Ltd. left the Jamaican industry. There was also a decline in tourism, which was important to the economy. Owing to rising foreign and local debt, accompanied by large fiscal deficits, the government sought International Monetary Fund (IMF) financing, which was dependent on implementing various austerity measures. These resulted in strikes in 1985 and

24360-475: Was also attacked by Dutch privateers and others in the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch wars. Piet Pieterszoon Hein was a brilliantly successful Dutch privateer who captured a Spanish treasure fleet. Magnus Heinason was another privateer who served the Dutch against the Spanish. While their and others' attacks brought home a great deal of money, they hardly dented the flow of gold and silver from Mexico to Spain. As

24528-423: Was approved in 1643 and he was made a knight of the Order of Santiago . When Spain issued a decree blocking foreign countries from trading, selling or buying merchandise in its Caribbean colonies, the entire region became engulfed in a power struggle among the naval superpowers. The newly independent United States later became involved in this scenario, complicating the conflict. As a consequence, Spain increased

24696-407: Was authorized in the commission, including after its expiry. A privateer who continued raiding after the expiration of a commission or the signing of a peace treaty could face accusations of piracy. The risk of piracy and the emergence of the modern state system of centralised military control caused the decline of privateering by the end of the 19th century. The commission was the proof the privateer

24864-474: Was called "the Exterminator". Another noted leader was Welshman Henry Morgan , who sacked Maracaibo , Portobello , and Panama City , stealing a huge amount from the Spanish. Morgan became rich and went back to England, where he was knighted by Charles II . While the buccaneers were powerful it was not only hostility to Spain, but also lack of authority, that prevented the other states from ending

25032-744: Was confinement in the pillory often with symbols of their crimes." After the threat began to abate, literature brought buccaneers to glory as example of virility and self-reliance. Daniel Defoe ’s works like Robinson Crusoe (1719), Captain Singleton (1720), and A General History of the Pyrates (1724) (purportedly written by Defoe) set the tone for the glamorous ways in which later generations would perceive them. Privateer Privateering allowed sovereigns to raise revenue for war by mobilizing privately owned armed ships and sailors to supplement state power. For participants, privateering provided

25200-420: Was defeated by the British and their Maroon allies. After the second conflict in 1795–96, many Maroons from the Maroon town of Cudjoe's Town (Trelawny Town) were expelled to Nova Scotia and, later, Sierra Leone . By the beginning of the 19th century, Jamaica's dependence on slave labour and a plantation economy had resulted in black people outnumbering white people by a ratio of almost 20 to 1. Although

25368-565: Was dependent on American produce. The realities of this interdependence did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm with which Bermudian privateers turned on their erstwhile countrymen. An American naval captain, ordered to take his ship out of Boston Harbor to eliminate a pair of Bermudian privateering vessels that had been picking off vessels missed by the Royal Navy, returned frustrated, saying, "the Bermudians sailed their ships two feet for every one of ours". Around 10,000 Bermudians emigrated in

25536-429: Was devastating for the colony's merchant fleet. Fifteen privateers operated from Bermuda during the war, but losses exceeded captures; the 1775 to 1783 American War of Independence ; and the 1796 to 1808 Anglo-Spanish War . By the middle of the 18th century, Bermuda was sending twice as many privateers to sea as any of the continental colonies. They typically left Bermuda with very large crews. This advantage in manpower

25704-506: Was due partly to the buildup of the naval base in Bermuda , which reduced the Admiralty's reliance on privateers in the western Atlantic, and partly to successful American legal suits and claims for damages pressed against British privateers, a large portion of which were aimed squarely at the Bermudians. During the course of the War of 1812, Bermudian privateers captured 298 ships, some 19% of

25872-533: Was established in 1944, elected by universal adult suffrage. During this period Jamaica's two-party system emerged, with the creation of the Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) under Alexander Bustamante and the People's National Party (PNP) under Norman Manley . Jamaica slowly gained increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom. In 1958 it became a province in the Federation of the West Indies ,

26040-493: Was fuelled by high levels of private investment in bauxite / alumina , tourism , the manufacturing industry and, to a lesser extent, the agricultural sector. In the 1967 Jamaican general election , the JLP were victorious again, winning 33 out of 53 seats, with the PNP taking 20 seats. In terms of foreign policy Jamaica became a member of the Non-Aligned Movement , seeking to retain strong ties with Britain and

26208-576: Was generally protected by Sir Thomas Modyford , the governor of Jamaica. He took an enormous amount of booty, as well as landing his privateers ashore and attacking land fortifications, including the sack of the city of Panama with only 1,400 crew. Other British privateers of note include Fortunatus Wright , Edward Collier , Sir John Hawkins , his son Sir Richard Hawkins , Michael Geare , and Sir Christopher Myngs . Notable British colonial privateers in Nova Scotia include Alexander Godfrey of

26376-480: Was gradual and motivated in part by Spanish efforts to wipe out both the buccaneers and the prey animals on which they depended. The buccaneers' migration from Hispaniola's mainland to the more defensible offshore island of Tortuga limited their resources and accelerated their piratical raids. According to Alexandre Exquemelin , the Tortuga buccaneer Pierre Le Grand pioneered the settlers' attacks on galleons making

26544-518: Was initially settled largely via Bermuda, with about eighty Bermudians moved to Providence in 1631. Although it was intended that the colony be used to grow cash crops, its location in the heart of the Spanish controlled territory ensured that it quickly became a base for privateering. Bermuda-based privateer Daniel Elfrith , while on a privateering expedition with Captain Sussex Camock of the bark Somer Ilands (a rendering of " Somers Isles ",

26712-580: Was introduced with the creation of the House of Assembly of Jamaica in 1664; however, it represented only a tiny number of rich plantation owners. In 1692, the colony was rocked by an earthquake that resulted in several thousand deaths and the almost complete destruction of Port Royal. During the 1700s the economy boomed, based largely on sugar and other crops for export such as coffee , cotton and indigo . All these crops were worked by black slaves, who lived short and often brutal lives with no rights, being

26880-444: Was legitimately sovereign on land and at sea, whether to accept their authority, or whether the opposing parties were, in fact, pirates. Mediterranean corsairs operated with a style of patriotic-religious authority that Europeans, and later Americans, found difficult to understand and accept. It did not help that many European privateers happily accepted commissions from the deys of Algiers , Tangiers and Tunis . The sultans of

27048-434: Was not a pirate . It usually limited activity to one particular ship, and specified officers, for a specified period of time. Typically, the owners or captain would be required to post a performance bond . The commission also dictated the expected nationality of potential prize ships under the terms of the war. At sea, the privateer captain was obliged to produce the commission to a potential prize ship's captain as evidence of

27216-443: Was published. Viewed from London , buccaneering was a budget way to wage war on England's rival, Spain. The English crown licensed buccaneers with letters of marque , legalising their operations in return for a share of their profits. The buccaneers were invited by Jamaica's Governor Thomas Modyford to base ships at Port Royal. The buccaneers robbed Spanish shipping and colonies, and returned to Port Royal with their plunder, making

27384-446: Was replaced by Portia Simpson-Miller , Jamaica's first female Prime Minister. The turnout slowly declined during this period of time, from 67.4% in 1993 to 59.1% in 2002. During this period various economic reforms were introduced, such as deregulating the finance sector and floating the Jamaican dollar, as well as greater investment in infrastructure, whilst also retaining a strong social safety net. Political violence, so prevalent in

27552-695: Was said to exist between Bermudian and Bahamian vessels for much of the 18th century. When the Bermudian sloop Seaflower was seized by the Bahamians in 1701, the response of the Governor of Bermuda, Captain Benjamin Bennett , was to issue letters of marque to Bermudian vessels. In 1706, Spanish and French forces ousted the Bermudians but were driven out themselves three years later by the Bermudian privateer Captain Lewis Middleton . His ship,

27720-442: Was still further obscured by the practice of the Spanish authorities, who regarded them as heretics and interlopers, and thus hanged or garroted captured buccaneers entirely without regard to whether their attacks were licensed by French or English monarchs. Simultaneously, French and English governors tended to turn a blind eye to the buccaneers' depredations against the Spanish, even when unlicensed. But as Spanish power waned toward

27888-485: Was succeeded by the first Stuart monarchs, James I and Charles I , who did not permit privateering. Desperate to fund the expensive War of Spanish Succession , Queen Anne restarted privateering and even removed the need for a sovereign's percentage as an incentive. Sovereigns continued to license British privateers throughout the century, although there were a number of unilateral and bilateral declarations limiting privateering between 1785 and 1823. This helped establish

28056-432: Was the most populated, especially around the area now known as Old Harbour. Though often thought to have become extinct following contact with Europeans, the Taíno in fact still inhabited Jamaica when the English took control of the island in 1655. Some fled into interior regions, merging with African Maroon communities. The Jamaican National Heritage Trust is attempting to locate and document any remaining evidence of

28224-505: Was vital in overpowering the crews of larger vessels, which themselves often lacked sufficient crewmembers to put up a strong defence. The extra crewmen were also useful as prize crews for returning captured vessels. The Bahamas, which had been depopulated of its indigenous inhabitants by the Spanish, had been settled by England, beginning with the Eleutheran Adventurers , dissident Puritans driven out of Bermuda during

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