Ahoy maties,

The following is a timeline of events important to the mythology of Pirates of the Caribbean, the story of the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and their friends, enemies, and inspirations.

I will start by stating that The Curse of the Black Pearl most likely took place in 1782, so some dates will be referenced in relation to that date.

Also, in effort to avoid spoilers, I will not recite the plots of the live action films. However, some events that took place after the Curse of the Black Pearl could spoil parts of the films. If you have not seen the films, I recommend watching them before continuing this timeline.

The best place to start the timeline is with the birth of Montezuma. Around 1466, approximately 262 years before The Curse of the Black Pearl, Montezuma was born and would become Aztec Emperor.

In 1474, Juan Ponce de Leon was born in Spain. He would go on to become an explorer and a conquistador.

In 1485, Hernan Cortes was born in Spain. He would become one of history’s most well-known conquistadors.

In 1497, a Spanish currency reform led to the creation of the pieces of eight, silver coins.

In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon discovered Florida while searching the New World for the Fountain of Youth.

Around 1519, about 209 years before the Curse of the Black Pearl. Hernan Cortes and his armies conquered the Aztec empire. Cortes did so wielding a powerful sword, which would become known as the Sword of Cortes. Montezuma urged his people to retreat, and they stoned him to death, binding his spirit to a single stone. To end the slaughter, the Aztecs delivered a stone chest of 882 identical pieces of Aztec gold, blood money. Cortes accepted the gold, but he did not stop his conquest. Therefore, a curse was placed upon the treasure by the Aztec Gods. Anyone who took a coin from the chest would become an undead skeleton. The treasure would find its way to the Isla de Muerta, a mysterious phantom island in the Caribbean that was all but unfindable.

In 1523, as captain of the Santiago, Juan Ponce de Leon discovered the Fountain of Youth on an unnamed mysterious Caribbean island. The journey was documented on the Mao Koon Map, also known as the navigational charts or the Map to the Land of the Dead. An ancient storm stranded the Santiago inland on the edge of a rocky cliff.

In 1547, Hernan Cortes died, and his spirit was bound to the Sword of Cortes.

In 1576, the Dutch colonized Douwesen, a small island in the South Archipelago of the Caribbean Sea.

In 1580, the French colonized Falaise de Fleur, another island in the South Archipelago. Only months later, the Spanish destroyed the colony.

In 1600, on December 31, London Merchants founded the East India Trading Company, a British joint-stock company and megacorporation, to monopolize trade with the Indian subcontinent...