From the 1500s to the 1800s, a vast swath of what is now North America, Central America, and South America was a hub of great wealth and power controlled by Spain. Not surprisingly, this area was a popular target for swindlers, thieves, and the special breed of pirates known as buccaneers. French writer Gustave Aimard expertly dramatizes the longstanding war between the Spanish and the criminals who sought to usurp their holdings in the region in The Buccaneer Chief.