This assignment addresses the following outcome:Write a short essay on one aspect of buccaneer

This assignment addresses the following outcome:
Write a short essay on one aspect of buccaneer history by examining and comparing primary and secondary source material (CO#1, CO#2)
In this assignment, you will explore the history of buccaneers through its most famous primary source, Alexander Exquemelin’s The Buccaneers of America (also known as The Pirates of Panama) written in 1678. Exquemelin was a barber-surgeon who took up with the buccaneers and was present during Captain Henry Morgan’s infamous raid on Panama City in 1671.
Primary sources can illuminate much about the era we are studying. Unlike secondary sources, like the Rediker and Pennell texts, they are not filtered by a historian after the fact. Rather, they give us first-hand perspective on the past. Yet, we must be careful to also critically examine primary sources rather than taking them simply at face value. Could certain portions of Exquemelin’s text be false or exaggerated? Might his memory differ from that of another person who witnessed the same event? We must always examine and critique sources closely and corroborate them with other source material whenever possible.
For this assignment, make sure you have read at least Chapters I-V (Links to an external site.), Chapter IX (Links to an external site.), and Chapters XVII-XVIII (Links to an external site.) in Exquemelin (you may want to skim through other chapters as well) and the other assigned readings for this week.
Then choose one of the following prompts to explore in a paper of 3-4 pages (750-1000 words):
Exquemelin’s motivations: who was Exquemelin and how did he come to write this book on buccaneers? What were his motivations in writing the book and any potential biases? What have historians said about Exquemelin?
Captain Henry Morgan, the person: how does Exquemelin describe Morgan and his motivations? How does his description of Morgan compare to other sources?
Captain Henry Morgan’s raid on Panama: How does Exquemelin describe Henry Morgan’s raid on Panama? How does it compare to other accounts of the raid?
Your paper must make use of evidence from Exquemelin as well as at least two outside sources. These sources should be scholarly and appropriate to an academic paper. To find appropriate sources, conduct a search in the Excelsior College Library (Links to an external site.) or Google Scholar (Links to an external site.) for peer-reviewed articles and e-books. You should NOT use non-scholarly websites such as Wikipedia. If you have questions about finding appropriate sources, please contact your instructor.