Expédition
Haïti
4 min
The archaeological sites from the buccaneer period on Tortuga Island, Haiti
Colonial archaeology, and in particular the study of the forts of the Caribbean, has been developing since the 1980s. Some of them were founded by privateers or by French colonial troops. In this type of configuration, these coastal defense installations were the target of pirate raids during the 17th and 18th centuries, while some were even erected by the latter.
Aerial view of Tortuga Island
R. Castera
Attack on Tortuga Island by the Spaniards in 1654, Watercolor
General Archive of the Indies, Seville
The western part of Hispaniola, now the Republic of Haiti, is in the 17th century one of the refuges of piracy, due to the abandonment of the area by Spanish troops. The piracy period of Hispaniola begins in 1640, with the settlement of François Levasseur on the island of Tortuga, and ends in 1697, the date of the Treaty of Ryswick, where Spain recognizes France's rights over the western part of the island.
The island of Tortuga is undoubtedly the most famous haven for pirates. However, other centers also exist in Haiti, notably in Port-de-Paix, Cap, Petit Goâve, Léogane, and on the island of Vache.
Map of the fortified sites of the buccaneers of Saint-Domingue
L. Pavlidis & J. Soulat
The Fort de la Roche
On Tortuga Island, the main fort is the Fort de la Roche, founded around 1640 by François Levasseur, second to the Norman buccaneer Pierre Belain d’Esnambuc. Levasseur spots, to the south of the island, about 600 meters from the only bay accessible by boat, a platform on a large rock. He builds his residence there and fortifies the place, which is called Fort Le Vasseur or Fort de la Roche.
Around this rock, Levasseur raises a quadrangular enclosure, flanked to the south by two bastions, one of which serves as the entrance. The central rock would have a diameter of nearly 11 meters and a height of 7 to 9 meters.
The fort is attacked by the Spanish in 1643 and in 1654. According to engineer Blondel, the Spanish raze the fort, made of good masonry, after their second attack.
In 1666, engineer Blondel visits Tortuga Island and draws plans for a new fort below Fort de la Roche, closer to the bay. It is a circular tower that flanks a lower courtyard defended on the sea side by a curtain wall punctuated by firing embrasures, and on the land side, by a wooden palisade forming a curtain wall and half-bastions. Blondel initiates the work and then leaves the site. The fort will be completed by the end of the year 1668, as Sieur d’Ogeron had advanced personal funds to finish the construction. Blondel initiates the work and then leaves the site. The fort will be completed by the end of the year 1668, as Sieur d’Ogeron had advanced personal funds to finish the construction.
Basse-Terre harbor, the only anchorage of the island of Tortuga
R. Castera
Port of Basse-Terre and Fort Blondel, engraving, 1667
BNF, shelf Div 5 folder 1
Taino ceramics and Zemi idol statuette in wood
Bowers Museum Collection Santa Ana, California, Metropolitan Museum of New York
Bibliography
Coustet, Cauna 1987
R. Coustet, J. de Cauna, "Mission to the Island of Tortuga from March 16 to 30, 1987," Conjonction, Franco-Haitian review, 174-175, 3rd and 4th quarters, 1987, pp. 6-12.
Pavlidis 2019
L. Pavlidis, "The buccaneer sites of Tortuga Island and Port-de-Paix in Haiti", In Search of Pirates, Archaeology Dossiers, 394, 2019, p. 62-65.
Pavlidis 2019
L. Pavlidis, "The fortifications of the buccaneer era of the island of Tortuga and Saint-Domingue," in J. Soulat (ed.), Archaeology of Piracy in the 17th-18th Centuries. Study of the daily life of buccaneers in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean, Outside of the collection, Editions Mergoil, 2019, pp. 137-156.
Soulat 2023
J. Soulat, Pirates. An archaeologist reveals the true story of the princes of the seas, Alisio History editions, 2023, p. 17-31.
