Tortuga

"More importantly, it is indeed a sad life that has never breathed deep the sweet, proliferous bouquet that is Tortuga. Savvy?"

- Jack Sparrow to Will Turner

Tortuga, otherwise called Isla Tortuga or officially known as Île de la Tortue after its French takeover, is an island in the Caribbean. Its name in both Spanish and French means "Turtle Island" or "Tortoise Island". It became a major center of piracy in the 17th century. Tortuga is located north of Hispaniola.

The island appeared to be free of governing reach and was generally a lawless place, and one of the only places a pirate considered to be "free" with the expansion of the East India Trading Company. The Faithful Bride was a popular tavern on the island.

History
Spanish planters began to cultivate Tortuga in 1598, with tobacco as their main crop, although there was not much fertile land to grow it on. They also tried planting sugar but it proved too costly a venture.

In 1625 French and English colonist, who were early buccaneers, arrived on the island. First they lived on island of Hispaniola. They were constantly wandering from one location to another, until they finally found the Tortuga as the safest place.

The French and English colonists started setting up plantations and populated island in a short time. They were temporary expelled as a potential treat to Spaniards when Don Fabrique de Toledo attacked Tortuga in 1629. The encouraged army came back to Hispaniola, determined to root out every colonist, until not single one remain. However, Spanish did not predict that scattered colonists would organize and return to the island and defeat small remains of Spanish force.

From 1630, the island of Tortuga was divided into French and English colonies. It provided a good base for buccaneers' attacks, as well as some other activities like slave trades. Tortuga saw two more successful Spanish raids in 1635 and 1638, and both times the buccaneers managed to retain possessions back.

In 1639, in order to finally establish decent defense, as the governor of nearby Saint Christopher (now St. Kitts) sent a help in Jean Le Vasseur who was promoted to the new governor of Tortuga. He built the stone fortress "Fort de Rocher" on a highest rise of the island. It was enforced with 40 guns and overlooked any vessels in or near the port.

Until 1665 Toruga was temporally captured by Spanish one more time, and than the island became a part of St. Domingue colony. The new governor, Bertrand D'ogeron had difficulties to convince the buccaneers to accept him. However, he managed to develop Tortuga even more by organizing people and strengthen its defense.

In following period, some of the greatest buccaneers such as Henry Morgan and Francois L'Ollonais launched attacks from Tortuga and became part of island history. From 1670, the most buccaneers found a new trade like log cutting and trading wood from the island, and many others continued their piracy on the ships of foreign nations. In 1684 a piece was signed between France and Spain. Spain officially gave up Tortuga, as a part of St. Domingue to France in 1697.

In 1701, a war erupted between France, Spain, Great Britain and Holland. Many pirates from Tortuga were employed by French Navy as privateers. When the war ended in 1713, many former privateers once again turned to piracy. Although piracy was officially abolished on Tortuga by the Treaty of Utrecht, thanks to governor Andrew Bowdash Tortuga is still a safe heaven for pirates like Torrents, Pequeño, Hawkins, Jack Sparrow and Eduardo Villanueva, simple outlaws like James Pidgley, El Grande and Donald McGrintley and former Royal Navy persons like Joshamee Gibbs, Grogan and James Norrington.

During the War of Jolly Roger, Roger's undead skeletons, under command of general Hex, have occupied Tortuga Graveyard. Using their voodoo povers, they raised many dead inhabitants of Tortuga in an attempt to increase Roger's army. However, that was just a prelude to the full scale invasion led by Roger himself, which was repeled by buccaneers.

Behind the scenes

 * Tortuga as represented on film drew inspiration from scenes from the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Elements from the ride include:
 * The characters Scarlett and Giselle.
 * The mayor being dunked in the well.
 * The man drinking beer by the tap.
 * The woman letting a man look up her skirt.
 * The pirates shooting guns.
 * A man (Joshamee Gibbs) sleeping with the pigs.

Appearances

 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Jack Sparrow: The Coming Storm
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
 * Revenge of the Pirates!
 * In Jack We Trust!
 * Going Overboard!
 * Pirates of the Caribbean Online
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
 * Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game)