Sir Walter Ralegh's Discoverie of GuianaSir Walter Ralegh's account of his 1595 expedition to the Orinoco in search of the fabled empire of El Dorado was an immediate publishing success and is one of the most important pieces of Elizabethan travel literature. This edition presents, on facing pages, the annotated texts of a previously unpublished copy of Ralegh's fair manuscript draft of The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtifvl Empyre of Gviana and the subsequent printed versions, and demonstrates very clearly how Sir Robert Cecil and Ralegh's few other serious backers induced the reluctant author to alter his manuscript for publication. Lively tales of Amazon women, drinking bouts and swash-buckling adventures, which would have fascinated armchair travellers, were firmly deleted. The focus of his appeal to investors was shifted from an ephemeral golden empire to actual gold mines to which, as his manuscript shows, he had originally paid little attention and for which he had very little evidence. In effect Ralegh was forced to develop a strategy to mediate between what he believed to exist and what he actually found, between his dreams of what he might accomplish and the real obstacles which faced him in the field, between his creative, imaginative response to his recent journey and the need to present it in such a way as to encourage others to undertake another such journey with him. The materials collected in the appendices indicate that while men like John Ley were immediately inspired to explore Guiana, bringing back fabulous tales of monstrous peoples, Ralegh lost interest until he saw a chance to free himself from imprisonment in the Tower by inventing stories of Orinoco gold mines which he had never mentioned in either the draft or the published version of The Discoverie. |
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Page xxiii
... Cecil in royal administration and their reluctance to waste the resources of the state in aggressive prosecution of ... Cecil's invest- ment in and promotion of Ralegh's venture to Guiana should be seen as arising out of genuine interest ...
... Cecil in royal administration and their reluctance to waste the resources of the state in aggressive prosecution of ... Cecil's invest- ment in and promotion of Ralegh's venture to Guiana should be seen as arising out of genuine interest ...
Page xxvi
... Cecil on the 12/22 November . He wrote back within the hour , fired to action by reading a ' relation ' which , to his mind , proved ' that it is no dreame which I have reported of Guiana ' . ? The manuscript preserved in Lambeth Palace ...
... Cecil on the 12/22 November . He wrote back within the hour , fired to action by reading a ' relation ' which , to his mind , proved ' that it is no dreame which I have reported of Guiana ' . ? The manuscript preserved in Lambeth Palace ...
Page xxxiv
... Cecil's underlining may only have been intended to draw attention to particularly noteworthy phenomena , or to emphasize the authority behind Ralegh's declarations . Thus when Cecil underlined Ralegh's asseveration that the natural ...
... Cecil's underlining may only have been intended to draw attention to particularly noteworthy phenomena , or to emphasize the authority behind Ralegh's declarations . Thus when Cecil underlined Ralegh's asseveration that the natural ...
Contents
Maps and Illustrations | ix |
Of the Voyage for Guiana | xxxv |
The Background to the Spanish Searches for El Dorado | xliii |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
Amapaia Amazones ancor Arawak barge Berreo borderers braunches brought cacique called Canoas Captaine capten Carapana CaronĂ Cassique coast countrey CumanĂ¡ daie Discoverie diuers Dorado El Dorado Emeria Empire of Guiana England English entred Epuremei euery expedition farre galley gold Guiana Guianians hath haue Ibid Iland Indians indigenous inhabited inserted in STC Keymis king land letters Lord Lordship Lorimer Majesty Manoa manuscript Margarita miles Morekito Morequito mountaines nations neere Nueuo numbers Omitted from STC Orenoke Orenoque Orenoqueponi Orinoco delta ouer Oyapoc Pedro Peru Popham port printed province Queen Raley reyno rich riuer river ryver Schomburgk sent shalbe shipp ships Sir Robert Cecil Sir Walter Ralegh sonne Spain Spaniards Spanish Spayne stones substituted in STC thence thereof told Topiawari towne trade Trinedado Trinidad tyme unto uppon victuall voyage vpon West Indies Whitehead wold yere