In the eyes of the Spanish crown, all of those who intruded into the seas around its empire in Central and South America were pirates - piratas, corsarios, bucaneros or sometimes pechelingues. At the heart of their actions lay many decades of bitter animosity towards Spain deriving from opposition to her catholicism and her political pretensions in Europe. Early in the sixteenth century, this rivalry had already spread across the Atlantic to the New World, especially to the Caribbean, when Spain's European enemies became aware of the vast riches that Spain had already begun to acquire from newly conquered lands there. First, the arrival of Aztec treasure from Mexico, and then precious items of Inca craftsmanship from Peru, had a wondrous impact throughout Europe. This was confirmed and intensified by the alluring legend of the golden kingdom of El Dorado, and from 1545 by the spectacular output of silver from the greatest mine in the New World at Potosí in the viceroyalty of Peru, which was transported by sea to Panama for onward shipment to Spain. This study reveals the individual motives and analyses the actions mainly of Dutch, English and French seamen along the west coast of South America, especially between the Straits of Magellan and the Isthmus of Panama. At first they arrived directly from Europe, but later as buccaneers they left their old haunts in the Caribbean and expanded their operations to the South Sea, either after crossing the Isthmus of Panama, or crossing the Atlantic from North America to Africa, and from there heading for the Straits of Magellan.
This book also sketches out their physical impact on the lives and livelihoods of residents there, and the ways in which they contrived to protect themselves both by fortifications on land and by armed flotillas at sea.
In addition to their impact on the population and economy of the Viceroyalty of Peru, collectively the interlopers discovered, described, mapped, publicised and ultimately established the viability of the long and perilous ocean routes to Peru and in the South Sea. By doing so they laid the foundations of the next era of trans-Pacific exploration and discovery in the 18th c. Their adventures and their deeds forever infused with tales of legendary riches, rare sights and strange beings, were also to contribute to the emergence of a new genre of travel literature, epitomized by the story of Robinson Crusoe.