And here’s another bit of fascinating if evil history about the word.

Before the Civil War, many enslavers in the American South wished to expand their economic interests by creating plantations in Central and South America and exporting enslaved people to them. They wished to create some kind of an American empire of enslavers, something that seemed more pressing as anti-enslaving sentiment in the North grew stronger.

Several expeditions were sent to various places where armed force would be necessary to take over land that was already owned by other people.

The American enslavers who did this called themselves filibusters or filibustiers.

In the early 19th century private American interests who exploited Central America sometimes used military force to dominate the area. These private military bands sometimes called themselves filibusters or filibustiers.