In the 1680s, Port Royal in Jamaica was a new sort of town. A deep-water port, it lay at the end of a nine-mile sand and gravel spit sheltering Kingston harbour. It was a merchant enclave and a pirate enclave, well situated for running contraband and raids against Spanish territories, and more ships docked there in a year than in all the ports of New England. Onto its 50 acres were crammed slaves, seamen, craftsmen and clerks, their wives and their families, together with the 'crue of vile strumpets and common prostratures' you find in any port. There were some seven thousand inhabitants. The more prosperous of them lived in brick-built houses, some four storeys high, and imported Chinese ceramics to civilise their dwellings.

LRB 21 June 2007 | PDF Download