In the early 18th century there was sometimes very little difference between legal piracy--the licensing of "privateers" to seize merchant ships of an enemy during a time of war--and illegal piracy on the high seas. The West Indies and the North Carolina inlets both provided protective harbors for the latter.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
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The focal point of this 1780 view of Charleston from the harbor is the handsome Exchange Building, begun in 1767 as an exchange and customs house for one of the most prosperous shipping towns in the...
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Landrum Blockhouse on the South Carolina and North Carolina line, near Tryon, North Carolina. This was one of a series of blockhouses built for protection against the Native Americans. A WPA photo...
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Goose Creek Church in St. James Parish was one of the earliest structures built in South Carolina for religious worship. The congregation was founded by Rev. William Corbin in 1702 in the wealthiest...
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"Carte Particuliere de la Caroline dresse sur les memoires le plus nouveaux, Amsterdam, chez Pierre Mortier," ca. 1696. This map of the Savannah River area shows the French perception of the region...
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A corner detail of the Thornton Map (see A New Map Of Carolina), printed in London in 1685. The inset is labeled by Thornton, "A Particular Map for the going into Ashley and Cooper Rivers." The...
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To become binding, colonial legal documents had to be signed and sealed. This partially ratified indenture between the Lords Proprietors never took effect because only six of the Proprietors agreed to...
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The wealth of centers like Charleston helped prepare the way for the dissatisfactions against British rule that finally resulted in the Revolution. A wealthy elite, with connections through trade to...
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Although it was the Englishman Sir Francis Drake whose raids persuaded the Spanish to abandon Santa Elena and concentrate on defending St. Augustine in 1587, it was nearly a century before the English...
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Oconee Station (also labeled Salem Blockhouse, north of Walhalla). Made of local field stone, this was one of a series of fortifications built for protection against the Native Americans in the...
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The title page and first page of hymns, "Cherokee Hymnbook," printed in Philadelphia, for the American Baptists Publication Society around 1820. The Cherokee were a highly organized society, and early...