Richard Hakluyt’s Diverse Voyages (1582) and England’s Search for the Northwest Passage

In this article the author focuses on the first English compendium of information about the Americas and voyages in the North Atlantic, published by Richard Hakluyt in 1582. Unlike his major work, “The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation”, Hakluyt's earlier publishing project received little attention in academic literature. His “Diverse Voyages” has been interpreted by modern scholars as part of a propaganda campaign in favour of the establishment of English colonial settlements in North America. However, an analysis of all the texts selected by Hakluyt, the way they are organised, the author's comments and references to sources, shows that at that stage his main interest was the quest for the Northwest Passage to China and India. This global political project was designed to generate commercial profit and strengthen England's position in competition with the leading maritime empires of the era, Spain and Portugal. By presenting to the world the totality of English achievements in the exploration of the northern hemisphere, Hakluyt's first publication was instrumental in promoting English maritime expansion and in shaping English national identity. At the same time, Hakluyt's compendium, the first English adaptation of this particular form of scientific literature, marked an important stage in the development of geographical knowledge of the world, particularly of the New World, and in the evolution of the compiler's own views on polar voyages across the Atlantic.

Keywords

Richard Hakluyt, North America, colonial expansion, England, geographical notions, historical writings, colonies, colonial empires, scientific picture of the world

Received

01.06.2023

Publication date

31.08.2023

Number of characters

46890

Cite

GOST	Dmitrieva O. Richard Hakluyt’s “Diverse Voyages” (1582) and England’s Search for the Northwest Passage // Novaia i noveishaia istoriia – 2023. – Issue 4 C. 46-59 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nni.jes.su/S013038640025128-8-1 (circulation date: 03.07.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013038640025128-8
MLA	Dmitrieva, Olga "Richard Hakluyt’s “Diverse Voyages” (1582) and England’s Search for the Northwest Passage." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 4 (2023):46-59. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640025128-8
APA	Dmitrieva O. (2023). Richard Hakluyt’s “Diverse Voyages” (1582) and England’s Search for the Northwest Passage. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia (4), pp.46-59 DOI: 10.31857/S013038640025128-8

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 141

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Kirillova V.M. K voprosu o kolonial’nyych vozzreniyach Richarda Hakluyta mladshego (1553–1616) [Notes on the Colonial Ideas of Richard Hakluyt Junior (1553–1616)] // Genesis kapitalizma v pozdnee Srednevekovye v Anglii i Germanii [Genesis of Capitalism in the Late Medieval England and Germany]. Moskva, 1979. S. 81–99. (In Russ.)

2. Armitage D. The Ideological Origins of the British Empire. Cambridge, 2000.

3. Boruchoff D.A. Piety, Patriotism, and Empire: Lessons for England, Spain, and the New World in the Works of Richard Hakluyt // Renaissance Quarterly. 2009. Vol. 62. № 3. P. 809–858.

4. Canny N., Kupperman K.O. The Scholarship and Legacy of David Beers Quinn, 1909–2002 // The William and Mary Quarterly. 2003. Vol. 60. № 4. P. 843–860.

5. Carey D. Richard Hakluyt as Editor. The Hakluyt Society Annual Lecture 2012. Delivered at the Annual General Meeting of the Hakluyt Society 20 June 2012. London, 2013.

6. Elliott J.H. Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America, 1492–1830. New Haven, 2006.

7. Fuller M. Voyages in Print: English Travel to America, 1576–1624. Cambridge, 1995.

8. Hakluyt R. Divers voyages touching the discouerie of America and the Ilands adiacent vnto the same, made first of all by our Englishmen and afterwards by the Frenchmen and Britons. London, 1582. (Repr. by J.W. Jones. London, 1850).

9. Helgerson R. Forms of Nationhood: The Elizabethan Writing of England. Chicago, 1992.

10. Kuin R. Querre-Muhau: Sir Philip Sidney and the New World // Renaissance Quarterly. Vol. LI. № 2. 1998. P. 549–585.

11. Mac Millan K. John Dee’s “Brytanici Imperii Limites” // The Huntington Library Quarterly. 2001. Vol. 64. P. 151–159.

12. Mancall P.C. Hakluyt’s Promise. An Elizabethan’s Obsession for an English America. New Haven; London, 2007.

13. Moseley C.W.R.D. The Metamorphoses of Sir John Mandeville // The Yearbook of English Studies. 1974. Vol. 4. P. 5–25.

14. Parks G.B. Richard Hakluyt and the English Voyages. New York, 1961.

15. Parks G.B. Tudor Travel literature: a brief history // The Hakluyt Handbook / ed. D.B. Quinn. London, 1974. Vol. I. P. 97–132.

16. Quinn D.B. Richard Hakluyt, Editor: A Study Introductory to the Facsimile Edition of Richard Hakluyt’s Divers Voyages (1582). Amsterdam. 1967.

17. Quinn D.B., Armstrong C.E., Skelton R.A. The Primary Hakluyt Bibliography // The Hakluyt Handbook / ed. D.B. Quinn. Vol. 1–2. London, 1974.

18. Richard Hakluyt and Travel Writing in Early Modern Europe / eds D. Carey, C. Jowitt. Farnham. 2012.

19. Sacks D.H. Discourses of Western Planting: Richard Hakluyt and the Making of the Atlantic World // The Atlantic World and Virginia, 1550–1624 / ed. P.C. Mancall. Chapel Hill, 2007. P. 410–454.

20. Sacks D.H. Richard Hakluyt’s Navigations in Time: History, Epic, and Empire // Modern Language Quarterly. 2006. Vol. 67. № 1. P. 36–48.

21. Schleck J. “Plain Broad Narratives of Substantial Facts”: Credibility, Narrative, and Hakluyt’s Principal Navigations // Renaissance Quarterly. 2006. Vol. 59. № 3. P. 768–794.

22. Small M. A World Seen Through Another’s Eyes: Hakluyt, Ramusio, and the Narratives of the Navigationi et Viaggi // Richard Hakluyt and Travel Writing in Early Modern Europe / eds D. Carey, C. Jowitt. Farnham, 2012. P. 45–55.

23. The Hakluyt Handbook / ed. by D.B. Quinn. Vol. 1–2. London, 1974.

24. Wallis H. England’s Search for the Northern Passages in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries // Arctic. 1989. Vol. 37. № 4. P. 453–372.

25. Young S. Richard Hakluyt’s Voyages: Early Modern Print Culture and the Global Reach of Englishness // Sixteenth Century Journal. 2018. Vol. XLIX. № 4. P. 1057–1080.