Madagascar

No image of the island's pirate anchorages is yet on display here; Madagascar is exhibited through the paper record alone.

Madagascar sits off the east coast of Africa across the sea lanes that carried trade between India and Europe. In the late seventeenth century its anchorages served as bases where pirate crews could rest, refit, trade and recruit far from any navy.

In the Kidd story the island is where the voyage came apart. In 1698 Kidd's worn-out expedition reached Ile Sainte-Marie, off the north-east coast, and found working pirates already there, among them Robert Culliford. Most of Kidd's crew deserted to them. Geography did real work here: a hunting ground so far from home meant a voyage could fail slowly, beyond recall and beyond supply, until its crew made their own arrangements.

Ile Sainte-Marie (Nosy Boraha) is the anchorage where that meeting is placed, at probable confidence. No other anchorage relevant to Kidd's stay is yet established.