Madagascar
Madagascar is an island nation off of the eastern coast of Africa, in the Indian Ocean.
History
In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the island was officially colonized by the French. Control eventually passed to the British Empire for a time, who, in an effort to combat the rising threat of piracy in the area, sent Captain Woodes Rogers to the island in 1713.
Once there, he spent eighteen months attempting to remove the pirates, a goal he eventually reached by offering the criminals a simple choice: either accept a royal pardon, and return to England, penniless but free of any charges; or be hung by the neck until dead.
Rogers' tactics eventually proved effective, and the pirates were eradicated. Rogers then left the island to travel to the West Indies, where he joined the Templar Order and soon offered the same pardon to the region's pirates.