Because this project is primarily a historical one based on primary archival research, I have found the

timeline somewhat difficult to do with limited resources at this point. The events that I have documented
are ones that I think would have had somewhat far reaching consequences: the development or demise
of pirate communities, known interactions between pirates and indigenous people, and documentation
and accounts being published by pirates themselves. I am sure there are many more and much of my
project relies on drawing parallels and correlations in timing between a number of different events. The
information presented here is somewhat common knowledge, but I believe my own project will include
more detailed and less commonly known examples of piracy from before and after the Golden Age of
Piracy (1650-1725).

British Empire
Colonies in St Lucia (1605) and Grenada (1609) and settlements in St. Kitts (1624), Barbados (1627)
and Nevis (1628).

French Colonial Empire

A colony was founded on Saint Kitts in 1625 (the island had to be shared with the English until the
Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, when it was ceded outright). Colonies in Guadeloupe and Martinique in
1635, and Saint Lucia by 1650. Saint-Domingue (today's Haiti) was founded in 1664. The eastern half
of Hispaniola (today's Dominican Republic) also came under French rule for a short period, after being
given to France by Spain in 1795.

Pirate Timeline
1640-1650 Tortuga becomes an established pirate community.
1660 Although divided largely by nationality, with the
English in Jamaica and the French in Tortuga or St.
Dominique, a large buccaneering presence is
established in the various English, French and Dutch
colonies in the Lesser Antilles.
1670 June - After the signing of the Treaty of Madrid, in
which Great Britain agrees to cease its privateering
activities against Spain, ending British support for
buccaneering raids against the Spanish. Local
colonial governors such as Thomas Modyford of
Jamaica reluctantly cease issuing "letters of
marque".
1680 Bartholomew Sharp embarks on the "Pacific
Adventure", a raid on Spanish settlements on the
South American west coast. On crewman, Basil
Ringrose, writes an account of the expedition, later
published by Alexander Esquemelin.
1680 (April) Landing on the Isthmus of Darien, John Coxen
leads 331 buccaneers, including Bartholomew
Sharp. Marching towards the Spanish stronghold of
Santa Maria the buccaneers first met with the
Mosquito Indians who had reported contained a
large amount of gold dust. The Spaniards however
 had been warned of their approach and had sent the
gold to Panama and by the time the buccaneers had
reached Santa Maria most of the party were in favor
of stealing out on the Pacific Ocean in the
Mosquito's canoes. Traveling in canoes into the Bay
of Panama the buccaneers capture a Spanish vessel
of 30 tons as well as a small Spanish barque taken
the following day. Arriving at Panama the
buccaneers encountered three Spanish warships, one
of which commanded by Captain Peralta who had
previously fought against Sir Henry Morgan's raid
of Panama only a decade before, engaging in a day
long battle ending after two of the Spanish ships
were boarded and forcing the remaining ship to
retreat.
1683 The Jamaica Act of 1683 is passed by the
Parliament of England prohibiting trade with
pirates.
1684 Alexandre Esquemelin's Buccaneers of America is
published in London.
1685 Charles Swan sails off the coast of Sinaloa and into
the Gulf of California during the winter of 1685-
1686 while unsuccessfully awaiting the Spanish
Manila galleon. A full account of this voyage is later
published in William Dampier's A New Voyage
Round the World in 1697.
1686 Spanish raiders based in St. Augustine, Florida
attack nearby settlements in Charleston, South
Carolina as a response to the rising pirate haven in
the Carolinas.
1686 (March) Captain Swan sails from Cabo Corrientes on an
expedition to the Orient. William Dampier later joins
Swan's crew on the Cygnet.
1690 The English East India Company is forced to
temporarily cease operations due to increased
activity by English pirates.
1692 An earthquake and resulting tsunami devastate Port
Royal, Jamaica, a major buccaneer base.
1706 John Halsey, commanding the Charles, begins
raiding shipping in the Indian Ocean. He is the first
American privateer to visit the Red Sea since the
1690s.
1706 Local pirates are enlisted by colonial authorities to
help defend Charlestown, South Carolina from the
Spanish under the command of a French admiral.
They are led by Lieutenant Colonel William Rhett
who sail out to meet the Spanish fleet, four
warships and a galley, and chases them from the
area. Several days later, Rhett took several pirates
 with him to capture a large ship from the enemy
fleet.
1706 Between 1,200-1,300 French privateers occupy
Martinique, one of the last old buccaneering
hideouts, which they use to raid English and
colonial American shipping.
1706 October - New Providence, a longtime pirate haven
during the Buccaneering era, is abandoned after a
Spanish raid destroys the church-fortress scattering
Governor Nicholas Trott small settlement. This
attack, along with a previous joint French-Spanish
raid in 1703, effectively ends the colony as a base
for English privateers.
1715 Spanish forces attack and disperse logwood cutters
at Campeche and British Honduras; many of the
ousted loggers turn pirate.
1716 September 15 - King George I of Great Britain
issues a royal decree, known as the Act of Grace
pardoning all pirates who surrender to the appointed
authorities by September 6, 1718.
1771 Although the Kew Gardens was well established at
this point, appointment of the first official collector,
Francis Masson, took place in 1771