26 Facts About Amaro Pargo

Amaro Rodriguez-Felipe y Tejera Machado, known as Amaro Pargo, was a Spanish privateer and slave trader.

Amaro Pargo was one of the most well-known Spanish privateers during the Golden Age of Piracy.

Amaro Pargo was declared a Caballero hidalgo in 1725 and obtained certification of nobility and royal arms in 1727.

Amaro Pargo was baptized by the priest Manuel Hurtado Mendoza in the Iglesia de Los Remedios.

Amaro Pargo was the son of Juan Rodriguez Felipe and Beatriz Tejera Machado.

Amaro Pargo's family was affluent, possessing property both in and around the city.

Amaro Pargo lived with his family in the Plaza de San Cristobal in La Laguna.

Amaro Pargo advised the captain to feign surrender in order to start a battle from which they emerged victorious.

Amaro Pargo is mentioned sailing between the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Havana, and other vessels of their possession are cited; Nuestra Senora de Los Remedios, Santo Domingo and Santa Agueda.

Amaro Pargo conducted his affairs with a well-maintained fleet and with many residences.

Amaro Pargo led his own ships to America laden with wine from Malvasia and brandy, which he sold in Havana and Guyana.

Amaro Pargo fought against some of the best known pirates of his day, including Blackbeard.

Amaro Pargo traded in other products such as various textiles and even nuts.

In 1712, Amaro Pargo captured the British-flagged merchant ship Saint Joseph, which operated out of Dublin, Ireland and was commanded by Captain Alexander Westher.

Amaro Pargo was later accused of not having acted with rigor at the time of exercising his rights as a privateer.

Amaro Pargo fought against Barbary pirates in waters off the Canary Islands.

Amaro Pargo became romantically involved with the Cuban Josefa Maria del Valdespino, with whom he had an illegitimate son, but did not marry.

Amaro Pargo founded a chaplaincy for the needy and allocated 3,000 reales for the poor in the prisons.

Amaro Pargo eventually came to be the richest man of the Canary Islands.

Amaro Pargo was a character who in his day had the same reputation and popularity as that of Blackbeard and Francis Drake.

Amaro Pargo developed a deep friendship with nun Sister Mary of Jesus, who gave the privateer spiritual advice.

Amaro Pargo was buried in the family tomb in the Santo Domingo de Guzman Convent in LaLaguna.

Amaro Pargo wrote in his will that he had a box that he kept in his cabin.

Amaro Pargo was a main character in Alexander De Chastelaine's novel Black Sam, where the benevolent privateer Pargo offered Black Sam Bellamy and his pirate crew refuge at his home shores on the Canary Islands.

In 2017, the Ruta Gastronomica de Amaro Pargo was presented in the city of La Laguna, a gastronomic route set in 18th-century cuisine and inspired by the figure of Pargo.

The City Council of San Cristobal de La Laguna launched in 2021 an interactive video game entitled El tesoro de Amaro Pargo, which allows you to discover the main historical-artistic values of this city, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.