Raiders and natives : cross-cultural relations in the age of buccaneers

Throughout the seventeenth century Dutch, French, and English freebooters launched numerous assaults on Spanish targets all over Central America. Many people have heard of Henry Morgan and François L’Olonnais, who led a series of successful raids, but few know that the famous buccaneers often operated in regions inhabited and controlled by Native Americans rather than Spaniards. Arne Bialuschewski explores the cross-cultural relations that emerged when greedy marauders encountered local populations in various parts of the Spanish empire. Natives, as it turned out, played a crucial role in the outcome of many of those raids. Depending on their own needs and assessment of the situation, indigenous people sometimes chose to support the colonial authorities and sometimes aided the intruders instead. Freebooters used native guides, relied on expertise and supplies obtained from local communities, and captured and enslaved many natives they encountered on their way. This book tells the fascinating story of how indigenous groups or individuals participated in the often-romanticized history of buccaneering. Building on extensive archival research, Bialuschewski untangles the wide variety of forms that cross-cultural relations took. By placing these encounters at the center of Raiders and Natives , the author changes our understanding of the early modern Atlantic World and the role that native populations played in the international conflicts of the seventeenth century. "Raiders and Natives illuminates the relationships among-and conflicts between-European buccaneers and various Indigenous peoples in Central America during the seventeenth century. Like many of the Natives they encountered on their frequent inland excursions, most of these buccaneers-chiefly those flying under English, French, and Dutch flags-also viewed the Spanish and their colonial regime as an enemy. While this sort of geopolitical situation led to martial alliances, it also resulted in a variety of cross-cultural exchange that altered sociopolitical organization, material culture, subsistence economies, and military strategies for all involved. Building on what one reviewer has called "immense archival research," Bialuschewski's study untangles the wide variety of forms this cross-cultural exchange took. Although a "mutually beneficial long-term alliance" emerged between buccaneers and Natives on the Miskito Coast in Nicaragua-and succeeded in holding off Spanish colonization until the nineteenth-century-elsewhere cultural exchange took the form of abduction, enslavement, and sexual assault. By placing these encounters at the center of Raiders and Natives, Bialuschewski changes our understanding of the early modern Atlantic World and the cross-cultural relations that shaped it"-- Provided by publisher Building on archival research, Bialuschewski untangles the wide variety of forms that cross-cultural relations took. By placing these encounters at the centre of the book, the author changes our understanding of the early modern Atlantic World and the role that native populations played in the international conflicts of the seventeenth century. The Rise of the Buccaneers -- Mayas Besieged -- The Granada Raid -- Natives and Intruders in Central America -- Intercultural Alliances on the Mosquito Coast -- Shifting Alliances on Panamá's Darién Frontier -- The South Sea Incursions