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 This edition presents, on facing pages, the annotated texts of a previously unpublished copy of Ralegh's fair manuscript draft of The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtifvl Empyre of Gviana and the subsequent printed versions, and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 xxxviii
... late 1595. Economic distress at home , the ruinous drain of the war on the Crown's finances , the distraction and expense of simultaneously maintaining troops in France , Ireland and the Netherlands , the cost of Drake's last expedition ...
... late 1595. Economic distress at home , the ruinous drain of the war on the Crown's finances , the distraction and expense of simultaneously maintaining troops in France , Ireland and the Netherlands , the cost of Drake's last expedition ...
Page xliv
... late brother - in - law Thomas Cavendish . When the Queen refused to allow the young adventurer to undertake such a risky exploit , Dudley had resigned himself to ' another course for the West Indies , without hope to doe anything worth ...
... late brother - in - law Thomas Cavendish . When the Queen refused to allow the young adventurer to undertake such a risky exploit , Dudley had resigned himself to ' another course for the West Indies , without hope to doe anything worth ...
Page lvi
... late Henry , Prince of Wales ( d . 6 Nov. 1612 ) , the elder brother of Prince Charles ( later King Charles I ) . They were clearly produced in sequence . The contents of document 1 , comprising twelve folios , were further elucidated ...
... late Henry , Prince of Wales ( d . 6 Nov. 1612 ) , the elder brother of Prince Charles ( later King Charles I ) . They were clearly produced in sequence . The contents of document 1 , comprising twelve folios , were further elucidated ...
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