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The Most Famous

PIRATES from France

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This page contains a list of the greatest French Pirates. The pantheon dataset contains 25 Pirates, 2 of which were born in France. This makes France the birth place of the 5th most number of Pirates behind Ireland and United States.

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary French Pirates of all time. This list of famous French Pirates is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of François l'Olonnais

1. François l'Olonnais (1635 - 1669)

With an HPI of 64.49, François l'Olonnais is the most famous French Pirate.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages on wikipedia.

Jean-David Nau (pronounced [ʒɑ̃ david no]) (c. 1630 – c. 1669), better known as François l'Olonnais (pronounced [fʁɑ̃swa lolɔnɛ]) (also l'Olonnois, Lolonois and Lolona), was a French pirate active in the Caribbean during the 1660s.

Photo of Jean Lafitte

2. Jean Lafitte (1776 - 1826)

With an HPI of 55.03, Jean Lafitte is the 2nd most famous French Pirate.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Jean Lafitte (c. 1780 – c. 1823) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". This has become the common spelling in the United States, including places named after him.Laffite is believed to have been born either in Biarritz, in the French Basque Country, France or the French colony of Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean. By 1805, Laffite was operating a warehouse in New Orleans to help distribute the goods smuggled by his brother Pierre Lafitte. The United States government passed the Embargo Act of 1807 as tensions built with the United Kingdom by prohibiting trade. The Laffites moved their operations to an island in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. By 1810, their new port had become very successful; the Laffites had a profitable smuggling operation and also started to engage in piracy. In 1812, the United States and the United Kingdom went to war. Despite Laffite warning the other Baratarians of a possible military attack on their base, a US naval force successfully invaded in September 1814 and captured most of his fleet. Later, in return for a legal pardon, Laffite and his fleet helped General Andrew Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans to defend the city during the War of 1812. British forces sought access to the Mississippi River to gain control of the interior of the US. After securing victory, Jackson paid tribute in despatches to the Laffite brothers' efforts, as well as those of their fellow privateers. The Laffites subsequently became spies for the Spanish during the Mexican War of Independence. In 1817, Jean founded a new colony on Galveston Island named Campeche. At its height, the colonists and privateers earned millions of dollars annually from stolen or smuggled coin and goods. Very little is known about Laffite, and speculation about his life and death continues among historians. A famous persistent rumor claimed that Lafitte rescued French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte from exile and both of them ended their days in Louisiana. No evidence supports it.

Pantheon has 2 people classified as pirates born between 1635 and 1776. Of these 2, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased pirates include François l'Olonnais and Jean Lafitte.

Deceased Pirates

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