England and the Discovery of America, 1481-1620

First published in 1974, England and the Discovery of America places the early explorations of the English in North America in the broad context of 15^th and 16^th century history. Marshalling evidence that cannot be pushed aside and sifting a mass of fascinating detail (including problems of cartography and the Vinland Map controversy), Professor Quinn presents circumstantial indications pointing to 1481 as the date or the discovery of America by Bristol voyagers - fishermen seeking new sources of cod, and merchant sailors with maps carrying promise of unexploited Atlantic islands. Whereas England did little to follow up her early lead, Quinn demonstrates that English initiatives from the 1580s onward, though slow, were of great importance. He brings to life the men involved in a variety of rash and heroic experiments in colonization and casts new light on their fates. He makes it clear that it was this very profusion of trial and error and trail again, as well as the conviction that settlement in temperate latitudes in North America could be effective if tenaciously enough sought, that enabled the English to strike and maintain routes in their new American world. This book will be of interest to students of English history, American history, colonial history and naval history.

Acknowledgements Foreword A List of Footnote Abbreviations 1. The Argument for the English Discovery of America Between 1480 and 1494 2. The Atlantic Perspective 3. England and the Atlantic 4. The Conquest of the Atlantic 5. Sebastian Cabot and English Exploration 6. Henry VIII and Western Voyaging 7. Sailors and the Sea in Elizabethan England 8. Edward Hayes and the Americas 9. A Portuguese Pilot in the English Service 10. Some Spanish Reactions to Elizabethan Colonial Ventures 11. The Failure of Ralegh's American Colonies 12. England and the St. Lawrence, 1577-1602 13. The First Pilgrims 14. The English Catholics and America, 1581-1633 15. Thomas Harriot and the Virginia Voyages of 1602 16. "Virginians" on the Thames in 1603 17. The Lost Colony in Myth and Reality, 1586-1625 18. The Road to Jamestown Summary Epilogue A Bibliography of Books and Articles on American Exploration and Colonization Index