Mapping the World at the Dawn of the British Empire

Mapping the World at the Dawn of the British Empire is a compact and informative guide to the ways in which the world was understood and imagined by British travellers and readers in the Tudor and Jacobean period, just before the rapid expansion of the transoceanic British Empire from the mid-seventeenth century onwards.

The book shows how the relatively restricted English-speaking world understood different people and places, sometimes through direct encounters, more often through descriptions and travel narratives. The book covers British perceptions of the diverse cultures of the world known to them in the early seventeenth century, from Paris to the South Sea Islands; from the earliest precarious colonies established in the Americas to the mighty Ottoman and Chinese empires; from the frozen north as sailors vainly sought to open up new trade routes by discovering the north-west or north-east passages, to the arid deserts of the Sahara; from the rich fishing grounds of the Baltic and the North Atlantic to the mythical kingdom of Prester John, the fabled golden city of El Dorado and the hidden societies of the dangerous women warriors, the Amazons. The book shows that British readers encountered a vision of the world that simultaneously represented them as specially selected white Christians, superior to other peoples, but also reminded them how dependent they were on other peoples, whose territories produced such vast riches.

Reading these accounts of travel, trade, and colonialism demonstrates that English speakers realized how much they had to learn if their nations were to survive and flourish, as well as the possibilities for accumulating wealth through trade and conquest. The book is divided into six chapters, each prefaced by a contemporary map: Europe, The North, Islamic West Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean, East Asia and the South Seas, Africa, and The Americas. There is an introduction, a conclusion, a bibliographical essay, and a guide explaining how to use the book. There are also 35 illustrations, comprising of maps, portraits, and images of relevant objects discussed in the text.