Amazons, Savages, and Machiavels

Travel and Colonial Writing in English, 1550-1630: An Anthology

Edited by Andrew Hadfield

An accessible anthology of over 30 writings by English Renaissance explorers, travellers, and essayists, presenting the contemporary world-picture, from Europe to the Americas, Africa, and the Far East.
Introduction and informative headnotes supply contextual information, indicate the writer's intended purpose and audience, and alert the reader to areas of debate.
Ranges from Raleigh's account of the Amazons and El Dorado's fabled gold to Coryat's cheerful encounter with a Venetian Courtezan; and from Montaigne's famous essay 'Of the Canniballes', in Florio's translation, to Peter Mundy's description of Surat and Captain John Smith's story of Pocahontas.
Essential reading for anyone interested in how English men and women encountered and interacted with other cultures and countries.
Ideal for students. No other such anthology exists.

Amazons, Savages, and Machiavels

Travel and Colonial Writing in English, 1550-1630: An Anthology

Edited by Andrew Hadfield

Description

Here is a broad-based and accessible anthology of travel and colonial writing in the English Renaissance, selected to represent the world-picture of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century readers in England. It includes not just the narratives of discovery of the New World but also accounts of cultures already well known through trade links, such as Turkey and the Moluccan islands, and of places that featured just as significantly in the early modern English imagination: from Ireland to Russia and the Far East, from Calais to India and Africa, from France and Italy to the West Indies. The writings reveal painstaking attempts to understand the 'other' as well as ignorance and prejudice, surprising connections alongside phobic reactions to difference, the desire to co-operate alongside the desire to extinguish and exploit.
The extracts are grouped geographically and prefaced by helpful headnotes, which supply essential information and alert readers to areas of debate. The editor provides a substantial introduction, as well as a chronology and full bibliography and seventeen original illustrations.
This anthology provides a survey of what the average Renaissance reader could have found in contemporary books, and will be essential reading for anyone interested in how English men and women interacted with other cultures and countries.

Amazons, Savages, and Machiavels

Travel and Colonial Writing in English, 1550-1630: An Anthology

Edited by Andrew Hadfield

List of Figures
Abbreviations
Chronology
Note on the Texts
General Introduction
1:Motives for Travel and Instructions for Travellers, Richard Eden; Roger Ascham; Richard Hakluyt (jun.); Thomas Coryat; Francis Bacon; Samuel Purchas
2:Europe, Sir Robert Dallington; Thomas Coryat; Sir Charles Somerset; Fynes Moryson; Sir Henry Wootton; William Lithgow
3:Africa and the Near East, 'John Hawkins'; Giles Fletcher; John Leo (Africanus); George Sandys; Fynes Moryson; William Lithgow
4:The Far East and the South Sea Islands, Francis Petty; 'Father Diego De Pantoia'; Sir Henry Middleton; Arthur Hatch; John Saris; 'Peter Mundy'
5:The Americas, Richard Eden; Bartolome de Las Casas; Sir George Peckham; Thomas Harriot; Sir Walter Raleigh; Michel Eyquem de Montaigne; William Strachey; Captain John Smith
Guide to Further Reading
Index

Amazons, Savages, and Machiavels

Travel and Colonial Writing in English, 1550-1630: An Anthology

Edited by Andrew Hadfield

Author Information

Edited by Andrew Hadfield, Professor of English, University of Wales at Aberystwyth

Contributors:

Richard Eden; Roger Ascham; Richard Hakluyt (jun.); Thomas Coryat; Francis Bacon; Samuel Purchas
Sir Robert Dallington; Thomas Coryat; Sir Charles Somerset; Fynes Moryson; Sir Henry Wootton; William Lithgow
'John Hawkins'; Giles Fletcher; John Leo (Africanus); George Sandys; Fynes Moryson; William Lithgow
Francis Petty; 'Father Diego De Pantoia'; Sir Henry Middleton; Arthur Hatch; John Saris; 'Peter Mundy'
Richard Eden; Bartolome de Las Casas; Sir George Peckham; Thomas Harriot; Sir Walter Raleigh; Michel Eyquem de Montaigne; William Strachey; Captain John Smith