Since the man began in navigation, the seas saw groups of men that were dedicated to looting the ships that they were furrowing them. They wanted to get goods, slaves or ask for ransom for the passengers, as well as keep the ship. They preferred the waters that did not belong to any jurisdiction and they used to have their bases in islands far from the metropolis. In one of these, the island Santa María in Madagascar , this the only pirate cemetery in the world. Join us to discover it.
Discover the only pirate cemetery in the world
On the day of the Assumption of 1506, Portuguese navigators discovered an island near Madagascar, they called it Santa María . Between the 17th and 18th centuries, the island became a haven for pirates. Until the end of the seventeenth century, pirates had concentrated especially on the waters of the Caribbean Sea through which the Spanish galleons loaded with riches sailed. This traffic was decreasing and the pirate business moved to other seas.
If there is a pirate cemetery in that place, it is because, around the year 1700, Isla Santa María, for the natives Nosy Boraha, it became the base of more than 20 ships and the residence of a thousand pirates who came to make a fortune looting the ships that sailed in the area. The island was very close to two essential and busy trade routes: the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. In Santa Maria, the pirates found refuge since it did not belong to any European power and offered refuge, food and water in abundance.
The pirates They settled on the island and among the best known who settled there are mentioned John Avery, William Kidd and Olivier Levasseur. Some of them even formed families that resided in the island and when they died, either for natural reasons or for the wounds received in their approaches to other ships, they were buried in the cemeteries of the island that was their home. There were several, but nowadays pirate cemetery which is preserved is near the capital of Santa María, Ambodifotatra, and has about thirty gravestones. Some of them keep taxed pirate symbols like skulls or crossed bones . It is considered to be the only authentically pirate cemetery in the world.
In Santa Maria a republic was established that became known as Libertalia . His ideals of equality, freedom and fraternity attracted many characters who found in piracy a way to make a living. The European nations that seeing the negative impact on their economies that represented the attacks on their ships, proposed an amnesty to the pirates who, repented of their misdeeds, returned to their countries of origin.
Madagascar and the island of Santa Maria or Nosy Boraha are becoming an attractive tourist destination. In addition to this fantastic pirate cemetery, in the bay of Forbans are the remains of at least four pirate ships to explore. Would you like to visit this curious pirate cemetery ? Do you know someone else? Share it with us! If you want to meet some pirate women, we invite you to read the post: The pirate women who terrorized the seas.
Images: Antony , Worm M , JialiangGao