…Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Piracy had been a massive phenomenon all over the globe back in the days. Legends, tales, and myths – that’s what we love, not the darkest side of it. As the cinematography produced a lot of material upon the theme, and as the novels introduced their adventures, we can’t help but romanticize it.
It’s not a bad thing, really. Rethinking the history of sea marauders who have been protesting the colonial world and making new interpretations is not as problematic as one might think. They were not killing machines or psychopaths, slaughtering everyone on their way. Actually, pirates were a great example of people who wanted to be free from the rich upper crust’s captive world. They invented slavery and other suppressive conventions that pirates did not want to cope with.
Well-known tropes may not be equally applied to everyone. For piracy phenomenon is a different thing, considering time, historical events, and other factors.
For instance, some of them had managed to sow the democracy, anti-slavery, anti-racism, and anti-homophobic trades. Many of them were not actually cruelly killing their hostages. Take the legendary Blackbeard, who, even considered being one of the bloodthirsty, almost always let crews free, just taking their riches, yet, not lives.
Now, let’s move the subject slightly away from the socio-philosophical context. We’re here for fun and a good pirate adventure. These are the top piracy-related landmarks to visit.
Table of Contents
Port Royal, Jamaica
Port-Royal is a well-known pirate capital. It’s been through floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and more, and now most of it is hidden under the Caribbean sea. Probably, lying there peacefully and keeping the pirates’ souls.
Sure, it attracted English privateers, as it had protective fortresses, a harbor for 100-gun battleships, and was located just right to rob Spanish, French, and Dutch ports of this part of the New World.
Today it’s just a place for pirate fans. This exact place you’ve seen in movies, for the filmmakers, it’s a true treasure trove. Two forts remain well-preserved: Fort Walker and Fort Charles, and the last one even has a museum for every tourist to visit. There are hotels to stay in, even if you’re not scared of ghosts.
Tortuga? Tortuga.
Initially, the island of Tortuga in Haiti was a place for pirates to hide and attack Spanish fleets from. Those events occurred in the second half of the 17th century.
Tortuga is probably the most famous island you are familiar with from books and films about Captain Blood, or from the “The Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. If you’re a gamer, you probably saw it in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.
It’s a sandy heaven-like beach for tourists, water activities, a gift shop, drinks, meals, and snorkeling.
Dominica
The crowns of Britain, England, and France wanted to seize this island, and it also became a real gold mine for piracy.
Welcome to the perfectly preserved island. It still remains a kingdom of nature, tropical forests, and mountains. You are going to tirelessly walk through the wild-like trails, scuba-diving, and sunbathe on black sand.
No wonder Disney has decided to film Pirates of the Caribbean here.
The island itself is of volcanic origin, and there are nine volcanoes here. Several of them are even active ones, and a boiling lake is a cherry on top.
A pirate cemetery, Ile Sainte-Marie, Madagascar
If you happen to be in Madagascar, come say hello to the pirate cemetery.
Skulls and crossbones are engraved on theatrical or film-like gravestones.
Plum Point, a narrow neck of land in North Carolina, U.S.A.
That was Blackbeard’s (Edward Teach’s) place to visit regularly along with his men. They used to spend money in amounts that made the economy prosper, so they’re always been welcomed there. At some point, it became his home. Blackbeard (whose real name was Edward Teach) and his men were known to port in Bath regularly.
New Providence, the island in the Bahamas, is also a Blackbeard-related location, as he used to live here as well.
There is more to see for piracy-fans, those places not mentioned before:
- Havana, Cuba
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands
- Saint Vincent And The Grenadines
- St Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
and more treasures for you to look for!
