Keywords
Pirates, Motivation, Pirate mythos, Enslaved people
Document Type
Research Paper
Abstract
In the middle months of the year 1720, Clement Downing arrived at the settlement of Saint Augustin in Madagascar, a midshipman aboard the Salisbury on its journey to trade in India. Led by ex-pirate John Rivers from 1686-1719, Saint Augustin was well-known as a resupplying depot for pirates operating in the region and, like other settlements in the immediate vicinity, was populated by “30 to 50 ex-pirates, or men waiting for a ship.”1 As ex-pirates, these men were said to have had “a very open-handed fraternity” with the Indigenous Malagasy populations; on rare occasions, the ex-pirates traded for enslaved people captured in local warfare and sold them to passing sailors or merchants.
Genre/Form
articles
Recommended Citation
Griffis, Corey
(2020)
"Piratical Actors: Origins, Motives, and Political Sentiments, c.1716-1726,"
Occam's Razor: Vol. 10, Article 6.
Available at:
https://cedar.wwu.edu/orwwu/vol10/iss1/6
Subjects - Topical (LCSH)
Pirates--Madagascar--History--18th century; Indigenous peoples--Madagascar--History--18th century; Slaves--Madagascar--History--18th century
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.
Subjects - Names (LCNAF)
Downing, Clement; Rivers, John, active 1686-1719
Geographic Coverage
Madagascar
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Type
Text
