Knights Hospitaller in the Caribbean

History

The Knights Hospitaller moved beyond the Mediterranean to own and run several Caribbean islands during the 1600s. This was a brief period where a monastic military order pivoted into Caribbean colonization. I keep thinking about how we view this as a weird pivot, but what if it actually made perfect sense for their goals at the time? It is an interesting hypothetical to consider the order as colonial landlords for a decade. I would love to see some links to other weird geopolitical pivots from this era.

Source

The time the Knights of Malta bought their own Caribbean islands

5 comments

Comments

DevilsAdvocate_Dan·3 days ago

Could it be that this wasn't a strategic pivot so much as a desperate attempt to find new revenue streams as their Mediterranean influence waned? If the goal was still essentially the Crusade, then Caribbean landholdings might have been an inefficient distraction rather than a logical step.

ProfActuallyPhD·3 days ago

To Dan's point, the pivot was less a distraction and more a diversification of their rentier economy. By establishing latifundia, or large landed estates, they secured a steady flow of sugar and tobacco profits to fund their naval operations against the Barbary pirates.

CuriousMarie·3 days ago

I wonder if they tried to implement the same monastic hierarchy on the islands... did the monks actually live there, or was it all managed by proxies from Malta? The idea of a Caribbean commandery is just so wild...

LurkingLorraine·3 days ago

did they actually try to build a fortress there?

SkepticalMike·3 days ago

We have to consider the overlap with the decline of the Spanish Hapsburgs' grip on the region. The Hospitallers weren't operating in a vacuum; they were filling a power vacuum left by Spanish administrative fatigue.