Frenchmen hunted wild cattle and swine on the Island of Hispaniola. They were called buccaneers for the method they used to cure the meat of the cattle. They made a living by trading the smoked meat and hides to passing ships for liquor, tobacco, guns, shot and powder.

The Spanish governor sent hunters to exterminate the wild herds to deprive the Buccaneers of a reason to come to Spanish territory. With few cattle to hunt and attacks by Spanish soldiers, The Buccaneers moved to Tortuga, the rocky island across the narrow channel off the northwestern coast of Hispaniola. The island's name (Île de la Tortue, "Turtle Island") refers to its shape. Which when viewed from a distance resembles a large sea turtle floating upon the waves.

Tortuga offered safe refuge and by the 1620's, the cattle hunters had a small settlement near the harbor, where they sold hides to visiting merchants.

Sea rovers passing through from Europe found Tortuga a convenient harbor. The island provided good access to the coast of Central America, Cuba and Mexico. The Tortuga huntsmen soon began to supplement their income by piracy. By the late 1620's, Dutch fleets had weakened Spanish naval power, encouraging freelance marauders. In late 1630, Spanish troops invaded Tortuga in an attempt to end the raids. But the islanders fled to the hills, returning as soon as the Spanish ships had left.

From 1631 to 1635, Tortuga was protected by the Providence Company. Anthony Hilton, a former ship captain persuaded the Company to adopt Tortuga and was appointed governor. The agreement with the Company was a rue to protect Hilton's buccaneer associates. Hilton (who died in 1634) never paid the Company for the cannon and ammunition it supplied. The Puritan minister sent by the Company fled after two years to escape his unruly flock!

Guided by an Irish sailor who had quarreled with Hilton, a force from Santo Domingo sacked the Tortuga settlement in 1635. Spanish ships attacked again in 1635 and killed all the inhabitants they could find. Soon after, Captain Roger Flood arrived with 300 settlers from Nevis. Many of the Frenchmen living on Tortuga claimed Flood abused them and they fled to Hispaniola.

The remaining French requested aid from Philippe de Poincy, the French governor-general. Governor de Poincy appointed Jean Le Vasseur governor of Tortuga in 1642. Le Vasseur, a skilled engineer, built an impregnable fortress near the harbor then cut all ties with France. During the next 12 years the Island became the capitol of Caribbean Piracy.

Le Vasseur was killed by two of his men in 1652, but the new governor sent by de Poincy also welcomed buccaneers.

In January 1654, Spanish troops again drove the pirates out and this time tried to found a permanent colony. However, when an English fleet invaded in 1655, the Spanish governor withdrew its troops to defend Santo Domingo.

In 1656, Englishman Elias Watts acquired a commission as governor and recruited English and French settlers. The islanders soon returned to piracy. Watts was expelled in 1659 by a French adventurer.

 In 1665 Tortuga again fell under French control when Bertrand D'Ogeron became governor. D'Ogeron. The latest French governor encouraged settlements along the northern and western coast of Hispaniola, creating the French colony of Saint Dominigue. He also imposed order on Tortuga, but never tried to suppress the pirates, who formed the colony's best defense. Pirates continued to visit the Island until France outlawed piracy after 1713.

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