What is a buccaneer?
A buccaneer is a pirate who raided Spanish colonies and ships along the American coast (or the ‘Spanish Main’) in the latter half of the 17th century. More specifically, a ‘buccaneer’ refers to a group of hunters (mostly French) that inhabited Hispaniola in the early part of the 17th century, settling there after the Spanish had abandoned the island in search of Aztec treasures. The Spanish left behind cattle and hogs, which turned wild on the island, and the French quickly became hunters of this feral livestock. To prevent the meat from spoiling, they learned a native technique for smoking it on a wooden grill, or boucan, and from this word they became known as boucaniers (buccaneers), or – in the most literal sense – barbecuers! The buccaneers survived by trading this smoked meat to passing ships for guns, powder, liquor and other necessities. Their life was a hard one, compariable to the mountain men of the American west. Eventually, the Spanish came to dislike the idea of French in
