Creole Ecologies, Feral Customs: A Coevolutionary History of Buccaneering in Hispaniola During the Seventeenth Century
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32991/2237-2717.2022v12i1.p353-387Keywords:
buccaneers, hispaniola, creole ecologies, feral livestock, plantation complexAbstract
As the European colonization of the Americas progressed through territorial occupation and economic exploitation, the motley Atlantic society that emerged from the Columbian Exchange also led to unprecedented social experiments. This article analyzes the consolidation of buccaneers’ society in the island of Hispaniola during the first half of the seventeenth century. Adopting the methodological tools of environmental history – with a particular emphasis on coevolutionary history and neo-materialism – it assesses how feral European-borne animal species such as feral cattle and pigs played a central role in the creation of this cosmopolitan society living at margins of western civilization. The result was a coevolutionary ecological niche built upon the pounding heart of the creole Caribbean environment of Hispaniola, one the first Spanish settlements in the Americas. After reconstructing their historical trajectory in relation to feral animal species, it also analyzes the historical causes that led to the demise of buccaneers and to the emergence of the plantation complex. This article draws from a vast array of primary sources produced by explorers from several European nations and former buccaneers as well as from scholarly publications in environmental history, Caribbean history and the history of European colonialism.
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