The Caribbean

As the only legitimate heir to your family, you would like to avoid what would most easily result in an early ****. You make arrangements to travel to Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola, where you can hopefully make your fortune. At the port of Seville, you find your merchant carrack. Your mother tearful, your father beaming with pride, you respectfully bid your adieus and boarded the small vessel.

The first stop was at the Azores, a Portuguese colony and the furthest settled land between the colonies and Europe. This was the final stop before the long and relatively perilous journey across the Atlantic. The islands were mainly settled by the Portuguese, naturally, but also feature significant numbers of Flems and conversos.

It felt good to be off the ship, able to stretch your legs and not fear every storm-cloud on the horizon, even for a brief while. You walked around for a bit on the sparsely populated island. While this settlement has a surprising number of people, it is still very rural, with almost every household keeping a garden and livestock if not a whole farm.