Plural form of captainry; the position, territory, or period of authority of a captain.
From captain plus -ry (a suffix forming nouns of position or practice, similar to -ship). This term appears in historical contexts describing military or colonial administration.
In colonial history, 'captainries' were territories—like 'captainry-general'—where one captain's authority could stretch across an entire region, making some of these positions as powerful as a small country's leadership.
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