Pirates in Baja California

In this exceedingly brief presentation Gerhard has drawn upon his previous research and publication, Pirates on the West Coast of New Spain, 1575-1742, to abstract portions concerning piratical and privateering activity in Baja California. A quite satisfactory map and good footnotes help the author present the thesis that historians have greatly over-emphasized the incidence of this hostile foreign nautical activity in Lower California, whereas in reality such operations were at a minimum. Except for the success of the Englishmen Thomas Cavendish (1587) and Woodes Rogers (1710), Lower California’s barren shores and deserted harbors proved undesirable or difficult of access for marauding mariners. With the beginnings of solid Spanish occupation by the Jesuit order, the area became progressively less attractive to pirates.