Early Modern Europe, 1450–1789: Europe in the world, 1600–1789

B y a century after Columbus’s first expedition, his voyages were already history. Authors and editors in many parts of Europe had used his journals and letters, along with those of other captains, mariners, soldiers, and missionaries, to weave a story of travel, exploration, and conquest, and then commented on that story, literally transforming it into history. Two English clergymen, Thomas Hakluyt (1552–1616) and Samuel Purchas (1575?–1626), were important creators of that history. As a student at Oxford, Hakluyt read everything he could about European explorations, began giving lectures on geography, and published a history of voyages, highlighting those made under the English flag. This brought him to the attention of members of court, and he was sent as the chaplain with an English delegation to Paris, where he was to listen for information about French and Spanish actions in the New World and anything else that might prove helpful to English interests. He continued to gather stories, translated and published a French history of voyages to Florida, wrote several works in Latin, and on returning to England published the first edition of his chief work, The Principal Navigations, Voyages and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589), which he later expanded to three volumes. The Principal Navigations includes texts written by many voyagers, famous and largely unknown, which Hakluyt reports that he included “word for word,” rescuing them from “musty darkness … misty corners … and perpetual oblivion.” His prefaces make clear that he hoped these works would encourage more English voyages to the west, which would help spread Christianity, allow England to obtain tropical products such as silk and spices on its own, widen the market for English cloth, and transform England into a powerful nation.