Locations > Madagascar > Fort Maratan
Fort Maratan
Background
Fort Maratan was a pirate republic that was established on the island of Madagascar by John Bowen. After Bowen ran his ship the Speaker on a reef in late 1701, the crew including Thomas Howard managed to make it to the shore of Ile de France and eventually got a ship they named the Content.
With their new ship Bowen and the rest of his crew sailed to the island of Madagascar and established their pirate republic and named it Fort Maratan. Madagascar was an entire island of various Locations at different points in time and it was essential for pirates on the Pirate Round in order to repair and careen their ships and resupply.
The location of Madagascar in relation to the valuable trade routes of the various East India Companies made it a perfect pirate haven. The island itself was never really able to be colonize due to hostile natives, tropical disease and other factors and therefore was generally not controlled by colonial authorities at all. Not much is known about the size of the settlement, where exactly it was on the island or the architecture of the buildings.
In fact, not much is known at all about this pirate haven and little research has been done into the Pirate Rounders which is a shame because they easily surpassed their collegues in the West Indies in terms of prizes captured and total wealth acquired.
Madagascar
- Ile Sainte-Marie
- Comoro Islands
- Madasgascar Economy
- Fort Maratan
- Libertatia
- Libertalia
- Port Golfphin
- Ranter Bay
