The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII CenturyHaring, Clarence Henry
History
The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century
Haring, Clarence Henry
Buccaneers; West Indies -- History
In the English histories of Jamaica written by Long, Bridges, and
Gardner, whatever notice is taken of the buccaneers is meagre and
superficial, and the same is true of Bryan Edwards' "History, civil and
commercial, of the British colonies in the West Indies." Thomas Southey,
in his "Chronological History of the West Indies" (Lond. 1827), devotes
considerable space to their achievements, but depends entirely upon the
traditional sources. In 1803 J.W. von Archenholz published "Die
Geschichte der Flibustier," a superficial, diffuse and even puerile
narrative, giving no references whatever to authorities. (It was
translated into French (Paris, 1804), and into English by Geo. Mason
(London, 1807).) In 1816 a "History of the Buccaneers in America" was
published by James Burney as the fourth volume of "A chronological
History of the Discoveries in the South Seas or Pacific Ocean." Burney
casts but a rapid glance over the West Indies, devoting most of the
volume to an account of the voyages of the freebooters along the coast
of South America and in the East Indies. Walter Thornbury in 1858 wrote
"The Buccaneers, or the Monarchs of the Main," a hasty compilation,
florid and overdrawn, and without historical judgment or accuracy. In
1895 M. Henri Lorin presented a Latin thesis to the Faculty of History
in Paris, entitled:--"De praedonibus Insulam Santi Dominici
celebrantibus saeculo septimo decimo," but he seems to have confined
himself to Exquemelin, Le Pers, Labat, Dutertre and a few documents
drawn from the French colonial archives. The best summary account in
English of the history and significance of the buccaneers in the West
Indies is contained in Hubert H. Bancroft's "History of Central America"
(ii. chs. 26, 28-30). Within the past year there has appeared an
excellent volume by M. Pierre de Vaissiere describing creole life and
manners in the French colony of San Domingo in the century and a half
preceding the Revolution. (Vaissiere, Pierre de: Saint Dominigue.
(1629-1789). Paris, 1909.) It is a reliable monograph, and like his
earlier volume, "Gentilshommes campagnards de l'ancienne France," is
written in a most entertaining style. De Vaissiere contributes much
valuable information, especially in the first chapter, about the origins
and customs of the French "flibustiers."
I have been able to find only two Spanish works which refer at all to
the buccaneers. One is entitled:
Piraterias y agresiones de los ingleses y de otros
pueblos de Europa en la America espanola desde el siglo
XVI. al XVIII., deducidas de las obras de D. Dionisio de
Alcedo y Herrera. Madrid, 1883. 4º.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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