The Republic of Pirates was the stronghold run by privateers-turned-pirates from Nassau in the Bahamas from 1706 to 1718. The island had been abandoned by its English settlers in the aftermath of two attacks by France and Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession, allowing for the pirates to turn Nassau into a pirate haven. Many British privateers turned to piracy after the war's 1713 end, and men such as Edward Thatch, Edward Kenway, Benjamin Hornigold, Charles Vane, Jack Rackham, and James Kidd turned to piracy to continue making money. The pirates mostly focused on fighting against Spanish Navy ships, tending to avoid British Royal Navy ships, but the pirates came to command a small fleet that could take on a British frigate. Edward Thatch, better known as "Blackbeard", was elected magistrate of Nassau, enforcing law and order in the form of the "pirate code". The republic faced issues such as a syphillis epidemic in 1717 and a British siege in 1718, both of which led to the pirates losing strength. In 1718, Woodes Rogers forced the pirates to either accept a royal pardon and return to England penniless or be hanged by the neck until dead. Hornigold turned against his former allies, assisting the British Army in conquering Nassau. Nine pirates were executed by the British, who restored order to the short-lived "republic".
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