Editing Blackbeard (section)

==Early life==
Little is known about Blackbeard's early life. It is commonly believed that at the time of his death he was between 35&nbsp;and&nbsp;40 years old and thus born around 1680.<ref>{{Harvnb|Perry|2006|p=14}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Konstam|2007|pp=10–12}}</ref> In contemporary records his name is most often given as Blackbeard, Edward Thatch or Edward Teach.  The latter is most often used because it is the form used in the dispatches of North America's only newspaper at the time, the Boston News-Letter, but primary sources written by people who had actually met the pirate all refer to him as "Thatch" or variations thereof. Several spellings of his surname exist: Thatch, Thach, Thache, Thack, Tack, Thatche, and Theach. One source claims that his surname was [[Clan Drummond|Drummond]], but the lack of any supporting documentation makes this unlikely. Pirates habitually used fictitious surnames while engaged in piracy so as not to tarnish the family name, which makes it unlikely that Teach's real name will ever be known.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lee|1974|pp=3–4}}</ref><ref name="ONDB-Blackbeard">{{Citation|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27097|title=Teach, Edward (Blackbeard) (d. 1718)|last=Wood|first=Peter H|year=2004|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=9 June 2009|url-access=subscription|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/27097|archive-date=8 December 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121208223807/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27097|url-status=live}}</ref>

The 17th-century rise of Britain's American colonies and the rapid 18th-century expansion of the [[Atlantic slave trade]] had made [[Bristol]] an important international sea port, and Teach was most likely raised in what was then the second-largest city in England. He could almost certainly read and write. He communicated with merchants and, upon his death, had in his possession a letter addressed to him by the Chief Justice and Secretary of the [[Province of Carolina]], Tobias Knight. Author Robert Lee speculated that Teach may therefore have been born into a respectable, wealthy family.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lee|1974|pp=4–5}}</ref> He may have arrived in the Caribbean in the last years of the 17th century, on a merchant vessel (possibly a [[slave ship]]).<ref>{{Harvnb|Konstam|2007|p=19}}</ref> The 18th-century author [[Captain Charles Johnson|Charles Johnson]] claimed that Teach was for some time a sailor operating from [[Jamaica]] on privateer ships during the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], and that "he had often distinguished himself for his uncommon boldness and personal courage."<ref name="Johnson 1724 70">{{Harvnb|Johnson|1724|p=70}}</ref> It is unknown at what point during the war Teach joined the fighting, as with the record of most of his life before he became a pirate.<ref>{{Harvnb|Lee|1974|p=9}}</ref>