PIR016
First Legion
Though pirates have existed throughout history, from ancient times to modern day, the ‘golden age’ of piracy was the 17th and early 18th century, thriving in particular on the plunder of rich Spanish trade and supply routes from the New World to the Old. Countless Spanish galleons, holds bursting with newly minted gold and silver coin mined from the rich deposits discovered in Peru, Mexico and Bolivia, plied the Atlantic en route to the court of the Spanish king. The plunder was so rich that some 5,000 or more pirates were believed to be active at the time, even establishing whole land based pirate communities such as the island of Hispaniola and Tortuga.