Hakluyt's Promise

Richard Hakluyt the younger, a contemporary of William Shakespeare, advocated the creation of English colonies in the New World at a time when the advantages of this idea were far from self-evident. This book describes in detail the life and times of Hakluyt, a trained minister who became an editor of travel accounts. "Hakluyt's Promise" demonstrates his prominent role in the establishment of English America as well as his interests in English opportunities in the East Indies. The volume presents nearly 50 illustrations - many unpublished since the sixteenth century - and offers a fresh view of Hakluyt's milieu and the central concerns of the Elizabethan age. Though he never travelled farther than Paris, young Hakluyt spent much of the 1580s recording information about the western hemisphere and became an international authority on overseas exploration. The book traces his rise to prominence as a source of information and inspiration for England's policy makers, including the queen, and his advocacy for colonies in Roanoke and Jamestown. Hakluyt's thought was shaped by debates that stretched across Europe, and his interests ranged just as widely, encompassing such topics as peaceful coexistence with Native Americans, the New World as a Protestant Holy Land, and in, his later life, trade with the Spice Islands.

ISBN 0300110545   Pages 400 ISBN13 9780300110548 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Yale University Press   Weight (grammes) 626 Imprint Yale University Press   Published in New Haven Format Hardback   Height (mm) 234 Publication date 23 Feb 2007   Width (mm) 156 Library of Congress 2006022826   Spine width (mm) 32 DEWEY 942.055092   Academic level General, Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC22

"This is an outstanding piece of literary contextualization. The author relates Hakluyt's career to his own publications--and those of European contemporaries--on ventures into the unknown."--Nicholas Canny, National University of Ireland, Galway. --Nicholas Canny

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