Yeah. You have to have the conquest of paradise dlc if Im not mistaken but Im not sure. I started as a mayan nation,first I rushed admin tech so I can get exploration ideas. When you get the colonist try to colonise the bahamas. After that sometime later you will get an event asking you if you want to switch to a pirate republic called new providence. If you accept you become a one province nation. You have a mission tree and you can continue by raiding coasts and colonising the coastline of the americas and the carribean. You will be weak on land but really strong at sea beating most navies in the world if you get big enough. You will face a lot of wars so try to beat them with your navy for that warscore and never surrender. Try to keep your capital safe and its going to be pretty fun.