No Limits to Their Sway: Cartagena's Privateers and the Masterless Caribbean in the Age of Revolutions

by Edgardo Pérez Morales

Following the 1808 French invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, an unprecedented political crisis threw the Spanish Monarchy into turmoil. On the Caribbean coast of modern-day Colombia, the important port town of Cartagena rejected Spanish authority, finally declaring independence in 1811. With new leadership that included free people of color, Cartagena welcomed merchants, revolutionaries, and adventurers from Venezuela, the Antilles, the United States, and Europe. Most importantly, independent Cartagena opened its doors to privateers of color from the French Caribbean. Hired mercenaries of the sea, privateers defended Cartagena's claim to sovereignty, attacking Spanish ships and seizing Spanish property, especially near Cuba, and establishing vibrant maritime connections with Haiti.
Most of Cartagena's privateers were people of color and descendants of slaves who benefited from the relative freedom and flexibility of life at sea, but also faced kidnapping, enslavement, and brutality. Many came from Haiti and Guadeloupe; some had been directly involved in the Haitian Revolution. While their manpower proved crucial in the early Anti-Spanish struggles, Afro-Caribbean privateers were also perceived as a threat, suspected of holding questionable loyalties, disorderly tendencies, and too strong a commitment to political and social privileges for people of color. Based on handwritten and printed sources in Spanish, English, and French, this book tells the story of Cartagena's multinational and multicultural seafarers, revealing the Trans-Atlantic and maritime dimensions of South American independence.

Genres: History

265 pages, Hardcover

First published February 15, 2018

Reviews

[Cindy Vallar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The American Revolution gave rise to a new age, one that encompassed the years 1776 through 1830 and came to be known as the Age of Revolutions. Morales’s book examines this historical period, especially as it relates to Cartagena and its bid to gain independence from Spain during the second decade of the 19th century. Although few documents from Cartagena de Indias (modern-day Colombia) exist today, there are other contemporary documents from various archives that permit us to glimpse this often-mentioned, but little-studied, period of Latin American history and, in particular, the privateers who participated in this colony’s bid to break from Spain. One such man, his crew, and their ship helps Morales achieve this goal. The privateer’s name is Louis-Michel Aury.

No Limits to Their Sway opens with a list of key figures who appear within the narrative itself, as well as an introduction to set the stage and ground readers in the historical background that led to this facet of the Age of Revolutions. Divided into nine chapters and an epilogue, this book also includes a list of primary sources on “Cartagena-Flagged Privateers, 1812-1816,” end notes, and an index. (There is no separate bibliography; all source material is cited within the notes section.) To further assist readers are some maps, a graph, and images of documents and other privateer-related materials.

The first two chapters – “Slavery, Seamanship, Freedom” and “Heralds of Liberty and Disobedience” focus on slavery, seamanship, freedom, and revolution and how they interconnect. It is here that Morales explores the intricate intertwining of the wars for independence in the United States, France, and Haiti, as well as the privateers who aided in these bids. The inclusion of all this background material grounds the reader for what is to come and brings to light some interesting details about these men and where they came from.

“Cartagena de Indias and the Age of Revolutions” and “The American Connection” (chapters three and four) examine Cartagena’s bid for independence. Here, Morales specifically examines changes, social and political, that led to this country’s people rising up against Spain. Chapter five (“Detachment from the Land and Irreverence at Sea”), on the other hand, explores the privateers and how these men of the sea differed from people who remained on land, particularly those in authority.

Two outside influences that played differing roles in Cartagena’s struggle were Cuba, which remained loyal to Spain, and Haiti, a former French colony that had already gained its freedom from the motherland. This study, which unfolds in chapters six and seven (“Under the Walls of Havana” and “Haiti: The Beacon Republic”), compare and contrast how each impacted the privateering policies that Cartagena enacted.

The final two chapters and the epilogue – “‘Horrors of Carthagena’;” Robbery, Mutiny, Fire;” and “From Amelia Island to the Republic of Colombia,” respectively – highlight the devastating effects of failed bids for independence and the determination to continue the struggle until objectives were achieved. In discussing these topics, Morales also analyzes the discrimination Afro-Caribbean people faced after independence and why histories on Latin American autonomy have ignored Cartagena’s story and that of the privateers who participated in it.

No Limits to Their Sway is an enlightening and marvelous study that provides readers with a valuable and much-needed resource. Morales skillfully and logically presents the material and his conclusions, while reinforcing key points with archival data in different languages provide a well-rounded and unbiased examination of both the Age of Revolutions in general and the conflicts in the Spanish Main in particular. That he accomplishes this in a manner that allows laypersons and students of history alike to grasp the subject matter without falling asleep or skipping over text is a testament to the depth of his research and his thorough understanding of it.

[Corrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

a really great and insightful book on cartagena and its impact, especially the role of privateering. i thought it brought up a lot of really important issues and told a history that has been understudied and under-acknowledged. my biggest complaint was the amount of speculation. at various times, the author wrote “there is little evidence for x, but it could have happened…”