Jean Lafitte

See also: Lafitte

Jean Lafitte or Laffite (born in the Years 1770 - unknown date of death) was a Flibustier of French nationality which foamed the Gulf of Mexico at the beginning of the 19th century. It created its clean “Kingdom of Barataria” in the marshes and the bayous close to La Nouvelle-Orléans in order to control the mouth of the the Mississippi after the purchase of the Louisiana in 1803. It would have ordered approximately: 1000 men. He plays a decisive part by supporting the general Andrew Jackson at the time of the Bataille of New-Orleans, in 1815. He takes then share with the trade of Esclave S, then already prohibited. The memory of its action remains sharp with the the United States, particularly in Louisiana where several places bear its name.

Biography

It is supposed that it was born either in France, or on the island of Hispanola, current Haiti. It leaves France little time after this one yielded the Louisiana to the the United States (in 1803) and finds his/her Pierre brother in the Caribbean in order to make fortune there. It engages in the Contrebande and the Piraterie, operative in the name of its Kingdom of Barataria, recognizing of this fact the sovereignty of no other nation.

Jean and Pierre settle in Barataria close to Louisiana recently sold by Napoleon with American in November 1803. It will have to be waited ten years before this territory does not become a State with whole share and the Lafitte brothers will benefit from these institutional and legal vacuums to develop a parallel economy. Barataria is a difficult territory of access made up of three islands principal all ideal to dissimulate its bases, its naval fleet and the “smuggled goods”: the slaves whom it has stolen with the Spaniards. The ceaseless navigation of its ships around its possessions in interdict almost completely the access. This battle makes it possible Jean Lafitte to gain a certain notoriety, as well as forgiveness for its reprehensible acts, but it loses sovereignty on its Kingdom with the profit of American. If it is attested that Pierre dies in the area of the Yucatán at the end of 1821, according to the least doubtful sources, Jean Lafitte would have died either in 1823 at the time of a naval action between his ship, the General Santander , and a Spanish flotilla, or in 1826 during a Ouragan. Other dates are quoted per many genealogists and historians, amateurs or professionals, but it is in any case impossible to find testimony irrefutable concerning the end-of-life of Jean Lafitte after 1822, date of its escape from a cuban prison :

He left has corsair' S name to other times,
Linked with one virtue, and has thousand crimes.
The novel Désirade of Jean-François Deniau tells also the life of Jean Lafitte.

Cinema

The legend of Jean Lafitte was told in two films:

Sites

A national park of the the United States bears its name today; the National Historical Park and Reserve Jean Lafitte are divided into six physically separate sites in the south is Louisiana, respecting the local acadian culture.

The Reserve of Barataria tries to preserve the natural history and cultural mountains and marsh of the area. At the south-east of New-Orleans is located the battle field of Chalmette and the National Cemetery, real site of the Bataille of New-Orleans and place of eternal rest for the soldiers of the American Civil War, of the Guerre Spanish-American, the Première and Seconde world wars, as well as Guerre of Vietnam.

Jean Lafitte is also the name of a village of fishermen Cajun and of a tourist site located close to the town of Barataria.

Others

The Captain Crouche, character mascot of cereals of the same name, had during one moment for adversary a pirate called Jean Foote, according to the name of Lafitte.

In the manga One Part , the navigator of the crew of Black Barbe names Lafitte.

See too

Random links:Tharoune | Carlos Tenorio | List Nicaraguan newspapers | County of Gyaca | Diva - ha Osef | Houma,_Louisiane