History of the Buccaneers of America

Burney's classic study of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century piracy in the West Indies, the Spanish Main and the South Seas.

James Burney (Author)

9781108025249, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 23 December 2010

320 pages, 1 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 1.8 cm, 0.41 kg

Captain James Burney (1750–1821), the son of the musicologist Dr Charles Burney and brother of the novelist Fanny Burney, was a well-travelled sailor, best known for A Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean (1803–1817), of which this work formed a part. It was subsequently republished separately, and is here taken from the edition of 1907. Burney concentrates on the activities of the buccaneers on the Pacific coast of South America and in the East Indies, as well as in the Caribbean, describing how their piracy was tolerated, and even encouraged, by the English and French because it was generally aimed at Spanish possessions. The book covers the period from the first European settlements in the Caribbean up to 1700, and includes anecdotes about the activities and lifestyle of the buccaneers, and the relationships between the European powers and their new colonies.

1. Considerations on the rights acquired by the discovery of unknown lands, and on the claims advanced by the Spaniards
2. Review of the Dominion of the Spaniards in Hayti or Hispaniola
3. Ships of different European nations frequent the West Indies
4. Iniquitous settlement of the island Saint Christopher by the English and French
5. Treaty made by the Spaniards with Don Henriquez
6. Treaty of America. Expedition of the Buccaneers against Panama. Exquemelin's History of the American Sea Rovers. Misconduct of the European governors in the West Indies
7. Thomas Peche
8. Meeting of Buccaneers at the Samballas, and Golden Island
9. Journey of the Buccaneers across the Isthmus of Americ, a
10. First Buccaneer expedition in the South Sea
11. Disputes between the French government and their West-India colonies
12. Circumstances which preceded the second irruption of the Buccaneers into the South Sea
13. Buccaneers under John Cook arrive at Juan Fernandez
14. Edward Davis commander. On the coast of New Spain and Peru
15. Edward Davis, commander. Meeting of the Spanish and Buccaneer fleets in the Bay of Panama
16. Buccaneers under Edward Davis
17. Edward Davis, his third visit to the Galapagos
18. Adventures of Swan and Townley on the coast of New Spain, until their separation
19. The Cygnet and her crew on the coast of Nueva Galicia, and at the Tres Marias Islands
20. The Cygnet. Her passage across the Pacific Ocean
21. The Cygnet departs from Mindanao
22. The Cygnet. At the Philippines, Celebes, and Timor. On the coast of New Holland. End of the Cygnet
23. French Buccaneers under François Grogniet and Le Picard, to the death of Grogniet
24. Retreat of the French Buccaneers across New Spain to the West Indies. All the Buccaneers quit the South Sea
25. Steps taken towards reducing the Buccaneers and the Flibustiers under subordination to the regular governments
26. Siege and plunder of the city of Carthagena on the Terra Firma, by an armament from France in conjunction with the Flibustiers of Saint Domingo
27. Second plunder of Carthagena.

Subject Areas: Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ]