Browse Items (35 total)

A 1561 engraving of a Spanish conquistador on horseback. Horses were one of the animals brought to the new world by the Spanish, and their use was crucial in colonizing the Americas. The native populations had never seen horses before and Europeans…

Mary was English and Anne was Irish, they were both born to working families, and had similar upbringings. Both were accustomed to dressing like boys so they had no problem breaking into the pirate scene. They were as good at fighting, drinking, and…

As a young man, Henry Morgan was sold into indentured servitude in the Caribbean. After regaining his freedom, he would go on to be recruited by a pirate crew and later would leave a legacy of unprecedented pirate rampage. His power and prestige were…

The transatlantic routes are where The Golden Age of Piracy really thrived. When in need of men they would offer slaves the opportunity to join their crews, and when on the hunt for gold they would lay in wait for the opportunity to raid other ships…

This depiction shows a 17th century tobacco plantation in Virginia. Tobacco was an extremely important cash crop and its production fueled many early colonies and was shipped across the world to fuel growing markets. Tobacco production was extremely…

He was the leader of a band of Huguenot pirates and a lieutenant or former lieutenant of another French pirate, François le Clerc. first gained notoriety among the Spanish after his attack on Santa Cruz de la Palma on the Canary Islands in 1553. He…

A portrait of Bartolomeu, the Portuguese pirate that attacked plenty of Spanish ships for their money and cacao. He is also responsible for the earliest "pirate's code" which would later influence John Phillips and Edward Low. Bartolomeu sailed with…

The Cerro Rico holds high quantities of silver ore, and a large proportion of silver that flowed from the Americas back to Europe came from this mountain. The mining process was brutal, and the Spanish colonial government coerced many natives into…

This map of the West Indies includes notes identifying Columbus's landing site in the New World, routes of the Spanish treasure fleets, the convoys of armed galleons and merchant ships that transported European goods to the Spanish colonies in…

A Spanish soldier aiming an arquebus. The arquebus was a primitive type of early firearm that saw extensive in the Americas use during the early colonial period. As with artillery, guns had a psychological effect on Native populations and as firearm…