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Caribbean colonies expand; Spain’s control over the region weakens, creating a power vacuum.
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England captures Jamaica from Spain. Becomes a major pirate base. -
Henry Morgan – Raids Spanish towns like Portobelo (1668) and Panama City (1671).
Roche Braziliano and Edward Mansvelt – Other infamous Caribbean raiders. -
Morgan sacks Panama, then is arrested but later knighted and made Governor of Jamaica. -
Pirates begin sailing the Pirate Round — a route from the Americas to the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope.
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Henry Every captures the Ganj-i-Sawai, a Mughal ship loaded with treasure. One of the richest pirate hauls ever. -
Piracy declared a capital offense in England; suppression begins. -
Captain William Kidd captured and sent to England for trial. -
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Captain Kidd hanged in London. Symbol of piracy’s dangers. -
War of the Spanish Succession ends, leaving thousands of unemployed sailors and privateers who turn to piracy. -
Spanish treasure fleet wrecked off Florida coast; treasure-hunters and pirates swarm the area. -
-Blackbeard (Edward Teach)
-Benjamin Hornigold
-Charles Vane
-"Calico Jack" Rackham
-Anne Bonny and Mary Read -
terrorizes the American coast. -
King George I offers a pardon to pirates who surrender. -
Blackbeard killed by British naval forces in North Carolina. -
Bartholomew Roberts ("Black Bart") becomes the most successful pirate of the era (400+ ships captured). -
Bartholomew Roberts killed in battle; major turning point in piracy suppression. -
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Captain Charles Johnson's A General History of the Pyrates published, mythologizing pirate legends. -
Piracy largely suppressed by naval patrols and colonial crackdowns. Caribbean becomes safer; remaining pirates are scattered or captured.