The Betsymi Seraka Confederation

The Betsymi Seraka Confederation seems to have combined a lot of different, I suppose, different strands into relatively short lived but relatively successful political experiment. The book really tries to tease out exactly what was happening there. Most of the settlements along the coast, especially the ones involving pirates, were more or less left to their own devices. Local chiefs were also left to do their own thing pretty much. It's not a totally dissimilar situation than the one that pertained on board pirates to a degree.