The explorer and privateer Sir Francis Drake was one of the most famous English historical personalities, best known for circumnavigating of the world and playing an important role in defeating the Spanish Armada. To the Spanish he was an infamous pirate known as El Draque (The Dragon in old Spanish), but to the English he was a national hero. He was born in about 1540 in Tavistock near Plymouth, Devon, but grew up in Kent. He was the oldest of twelve boys and his father, Edmund Drake, was a preacher. At the age of twelve Drake became an apprentice to the master of a small freight vessel, which he later inherited. Not satisfied with the life of a coastal trader, he sold the vessel and returned to Plymouth, where he had contacts – John and William Hawkins, who were possibly his cousins. He sought employment on their voyages. Drake married Mary Newman in 1569, but not much is known about her.…
Palmares
In the early 17th century an autonomous, self-sufficient community of escaped slaves (maroons) known as Palmares established itself in the Captaincy of Pernambuco in north-eastern Brazil. It grew considerably throughout the 17th century, eventually becoming the largest settlement ever founded by runaway slaves in Brazil. Most of the information about this community comes from Portuguese and Dutch colonists and many of the names of those involved are unknown. At its apex, the population of Palmares reached somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000. The Palmaristas constantly resisted Portuguese and Dutch attacks while at the same time carrying out their own raids on the colonists. In the 1500s nearly half of all those enslaved from Africa were transported to Brazil, which was governed by the Portuguese at the time. Their settlements, called mocambos or quilombos, were constructed in the land’s interior, although the later is a modern term. At its height in the 1660s, Quilombo of Palmares was a confederation with a central capital and associated fortified towns and villages.…
Bartholomew Roberts
“In an honest service there is thin commons, low wages, and hard labour. In this, plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power; and who would not balance creditor on this side, when all the hazard that is run for it, at worst is only a sour look or two at choking? No, a merry life and a short one shall be my motto.”
A General History of the Pyrates (1724)
Active between 1719 and 1722, Bartholomew Roberts is viewed as being one of the most successful pirates, when judged by the amount of vessels captured. It is thought he took as many as 470 vessels, albeit the half of them being fishing boats. Born with the Christian name John, it is unsure why he took the name Bartholomew. Some say he adopted the name in reference to the legendary buccaneer Bartholomew Sharp, others say in order to hide his true identity.…