Steven Becker

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Tortuga or Turtle Island (presently known as Ile de la Tortue and located off the northwest shore of present day Haiti on the Island of Hispaniola), Tortuga is approximately 20 miles long and no more than 4 miles wide, and at one time, held the reputation of the home of pirates. Tortuga was first discovered and named by the Spanish. The name Tortuga actually means Sea Turtle. It was named this way… Read More

Haiti has been blessed with fleeting moments of glory. From its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1492, it was one of the first islands in the New World to be settled by the Spanish. Between 1492 and 1550, the indigenous culture of the Taino Indians disappeared, and the island became a lawless pocket in the Spanish empire, populated by all manner of castaways, pirates, buccaneers and fortune seekers. When the French used… Read More

Very little is actually known about Henri Christophe’s childhood. Some say that he was born on Grenada Island, a small nation in the Caribbean’s Lesser Antilles; some say that he was the son of a freeman. His father, also named Christophe, was by all accounts transported from West Africa or Central West Africa to Saint Domingue. A place we now know as Haiti. It is known that in 1779, Christophe served with… Read More