This timeline of the history of piracy in the 1600s is a chronological list of key events involving pirates between 1600 and 1609.
Events
1600
April – Baltazar de Cordes captures the island of Chiloé along with Dutch and native forces. December 14 – Olivier van Noort and the Spanish engage in a naval combat off Fortune Island, forcing van Noort to quit piracy in the Philippines. Unknown – James Lancaster is given control of the East India Company's first fleet. Unknown – Walter Raleigh is sworn into office as governor of Jersey, an island off the coast of Normandy.
1601
January – Baltazar de Cordes' ship along with the surviving crew get captured and imprisoned in Tidore, a Portuguese colony, after battling the Spanish in Chiloé. February – William Parker captures Portobello from the Spanish and sacks it. April 22 – The East India Company's first fleet sets sail from Torbay under the command of James Lancaster. May – Michael Geare captures three ships in the West Indies with David Middleton while commanding the Archangel but loses contact with one of the ships. August 26 – Olivier van Noort returns to Rotterdam captaining the Mauritius after battling the Spanish, making him the first Dutch person to circumnavigate the globe. September 9 – James Lancaster's fleet arrives in Table Bay in southern Africa, ravaged with scurvy.
1602
December – Jan de Bouff gets ambushed by six Dutch ships but manages to capture two of them with the help of three other Dunkirkers. Unknown – Richard Hawkins is released after being imprisoned by Spain. Unknown – Peter Easton is put in command of a convoy as a privateer, commissioned by Elizabeth I, to protect the Newfoundland fishing fleet.
1603
January 24 – Michael Geare and Christopher Newport, working with the French, direct eight ships during a landing of privateers near Santiago de Cuba but are eventually forced to flee. July – Richard Hawkins receives a knighthood. July 20 – By this date, Walter Raleigh has been imprisoned in the Tower of London after being accused of devising the Main Plot against James I. October – James Lancaster receives a knighthood from James I after returning from his voyage with the East India Company.
1604
August 28 – The Treaty of London is signed and ends the nineteen-year Anglo-Spanish War. Unknown – Jack Ward is allegedly pressed into service for the British and is placed in the Channel Fleet aboard the Lyon's Whelp.
1605
Unknown – Many Dutch and English sailors, including Richard Bishop and Anthony Johnson, join Jack Ward's crew.
1606
April 10 – William Parker becomes a founding member of the Virginia Company. Summer – Jack Ward captures a dhow in the Strait of Gibraltar allegedly carrying Catholic slaves. Early November – Jack Ward captures the English merchantman John Baptist captained under John Keye and renames it Little John. Unknown – Hendrik Brouwer sails to the Dutch East Indies for the Dutch East India Company.
1607
January 28 - Jack Ward takes the Venetian Carminati, one of his richest hauls. Unknown - Zymen Danseker steals a ship in Marseilles and sails to Algiers.
1608
Unknown - Frances Verney leaves his wife and stepmother/mother-in-law after losing a case to them, headed for Morocco.
1609
November 17 - Zymen Danseker returns to Marseilles and is pardoned upon return. Unknown - James Harris is ambushed by the British while stopping in Baltimore.
Births
1600
February 1 – Johan Evertsen
1604
April 16 – Zheng Zhilong
1607
Unknown - Ben Robins
1609
Unknown - Richard Ingle
Deaths
1603
Unknown – Grace O'Malley of natural causes, though the exact date and cause is disputed.
1609
Unknown – Murat Reis the Elder, during a siege of Vlorë.
See also Timeline of piracy 1610s in piracy
References