International Trade Last update 30th August 2001

The basic concept of trade throughout the Caribbean as an exploitable option.

After the Spanish conquest of gold from the Aztecs in 1521, the remote colonies of the Caribbean diminished as the populace were lured away by the South American gold. Those that remained were starved of goods, and the goods that arrived were well priced to suit the merchants pockets. French ships were just starting to cruise the islands at this time, and they soon earned a lucrative trade bringing cheaper goods and looted items for trade. This both allowed the towns to prosper more than they might, and to also encouraged tolerance of the pirates and their methods. This was not always so, and some of the towns that suffered directly from pirate invasions and bouts of pillaging learned to hate and fear them.