page_title: Campeche City
section_title: Trade and piracy
hierarchical_section_title: Campeche City / History / Viceroyalty period / Trade and piracy
caption_attribution_description: English: François l'Olonnais from "De Americaensche Zeerovers"Nederlands: FRANCOIS LOLONOIS. gebooren in Olonne in Vranckrÿck Generaal van de Franse Roovers in Tortuga
context_page_description: San Francisco de Campeche, 19th c. English also Campeachy, is a city in Campeche Municipality in the state of Campeche, Mexico on the shore of the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico. Both the seat of the municipality and the state's capital, the city had a population at the 2010 census of 220,389, and the municipality had a population of 259,005.
  The city was founded in 1540 by Spanish conquistadores as San Francisco de Campeche atop the pre-existing Maya city of Can Pech. The Pre-Columbian city was described as having 3,000 houses and various monuments, of which little trace remains.
  The city retains many of the old colonial Spanish city walls and fortifications which protected the city from pirates and buccaneers. The state of preservation and quality of its architecture earned it the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Originally, the Spaniards lived inside the walled city, while the natives lived in the surrounding barrios of San Francisco, Guadalupe and San Román. These barrios still retain their original churches; the one in Guadalupe is almost 500 years old.
context_section_description: Campeche's position in the Gulf of Mexico made it the main port of the Yucatan Peninsula, standing out as a point of connection with the foreigner, which allowed the economic boom and population growth. From there, from early times, the cargoes of the so-called palo de Campeche, also known as "dye stick", a native product of the region that would lead to large estates, among which are counted, Uayamón, Xanabchakán and Mucuychacán, to mention three of them, and also of salt. The port of Campeche also gained fame for its Shipyards industry.
  The commercial monopoly of Spain, implemented by the House of Hiring of the Indies to their domains, which prohibited them from trading even among themselves and with other nations, led to illegal practices such as piracy. One of the measures to stop them was promulgated in 1616 by the Mayor of Yucatan Luis de Céspedes y Oviedo, which involved the creation of a license on the cutting and trade of the Campeche stick, as well Like new taxes. This first measure was insufficient and counterproductive, because far from bringing down piracy, he encouraged it. In 1629, the King of Spain Felipe IV created a  navy coast guard to protect trade, but this measure also did not give the expected results, neither did the military garrison to protect the city implanted by Mayor Centeno Maldonado. The constant pressures from other European nations and the continuing uprisings in their Dutch positions made it impossible to adopt new measures against piracy, which remained in full swing.
  Among the pirates most famous that docked at Campeche are John Hawkins, Francis Drake, Laurens de Graaf, Cornelius Jol, Jacobo Jackson, Michel de Grandmont, Portuguese Bartholomew, William Parker, Jean David Nau, Edward Mansvelt, Henry Morgan, Lewis Scot, Roche Brasiliano and Jean Lafitte. On January 27, 1661, a fleet of filibusters appeared in the port of San Francisco de Campeche and, although it did not disembark, looted two well-loaded commercial frigates, which barely arrived and then quietly withdrew, without being chased, because that day there was no armed ship in the bay capable of hunting him. The head of this filibuster expedition was called Henry Morgan.
  A very feared pirate in the town of Campeche was Laurens de Graaf or Lorencillo, who was Dutch and had served the king of Spain fighting filibusters. But then he also dedicated himself to piracy. In 1685 he attacked and took the town of Campeche and twenty other towns in the area. He spent two months and captured so many prisoners and stole so many jewels and pieces of silver that filled the cargo of his ship. He was chased by three Spanish frigates with cannons. The pirate dodged the attacks, threw the entire load into the sea so that the ship achieved greater speed and, with wind in favor, moved away quickly.
  Another pirate was El Olonés whose real name was Jean David Nau. He committed innumerable and famous stumbling against the Spanish viceroyalty of the mainland. In a terrible storm, he lost his ship on the coast of Campeche. All the men were saved, but, arriving on land, the Spanish persecuted them by killing most of them, and also hurting the Olonés. Not knowing this how to escape, he thought about saving his life through a ploy: he took several handfuls of sand and mixing it with the blood of his own wounds he smeared his face and other parts of his body. Then, hiding with great skill among the dead, he remained motionless until the Spaniards left the field of struggle. Since they were gone, he retired to the forest, sold his wounds and took care of them until heal and then headed to the City of Campeche perfectly disguised. In the city, he spoke with certain slaves to whom he promised freedom in case they obeyed him. They accepted their promises and stealing a canoe at night, threw themselves into the sea with the Olonés.
caption: Jean David Nau aka El Olonés.
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