I. Introductory-- Part I.--The Spanish Colonial System 1 Part II.--The Freebooters of the Sixteenth Century 28 II. The Beginnings of the Buccaneers 57 III. The Conquest of Jamaica 85 IV. Tortuga, 1655-1664 113 V. Porto Bello and Panama 120 VI. The Government Suppresses the Buccaneers 200 VII. The Buccaneers Turn Pirate 232 Appendices 273-74 Bibliography 275 Index 289 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Map of the West Indies _Frontispiece_ From Charlevoix' _Histoire de S. Domingue_. FACING PAGE Spanish Periagua 1 From Exquemelin's _Histoire des Aventuriers Trevoux_, 1744. Buccaneer Vessels 76 From Exquemelin's _Histoire des Aventuriers Trevoux_, 1744. A Correct Map of Jamaica 85 From the _Royal Magazine_, 1760. Map of San Domingo 86 From Charlevoix' _Histoire de S. Domingue_. Plan of the Bay and Town of Portobelo 154 From Prevost d'Exiles' _Voyages_. The Isthmus of Darien 164 From Exquelmelin's _Bucaniers_, 1684-5. 'The Battel between the Spaniards and the pyrats or Buccaniers before the Citty of Panama' 166 From Exquemelin's _Bucaniers of America_, 1684-5. Plan of Vera-Cruz 242 From Charlevoix' _Histoire de S. Domingue_, 1730. Plan of the Town and Roadstead of Cartegena and of the Forts 264 From Baron de Pontis' _Relation de ce qui c'est fait la prise de Carthagene_, Bruxelles, 1698. THE BUCCANEERS IN THE WEST INDIES IN THE XVII CENTURY CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY I.--THE SPANISH COLONIAL SYSTEM