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Voyages and Discoveries: Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation
Renaissance diplomat and part-time spy, William Hakluyt was also England's first serious geographer, gathering together a wealth of accounts about the wide-ranging travels and discoveries of the sixteenth-century English. One of the epics of this great period of expansion, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation describes, in the words of the explorers themselves, an astonishing era in which the English grew rapidly aware of the sheer size and strangeness of their world. Mingling accounts of the journeys of renowned adventurers such as Drake and Frobisher with descriptions by other explorers and traders to reveal a nation beginning to dominate the seas, Hakluyt's great work was originally intended principally to assist navigation and trade. It also presents one of the first and greatest modern portraits of the globe.
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1589
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About the author
Richard Hakluyt
529 books16 followersRichard Hakluyt (c. 1552 or 1553 - 1616) was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America (1582) and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and Discoueries of the English Nation (1589 - 1600).
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October 20, 2020This volume is a selection of about ten percent of the material originally published by Richard Hakluyt, an Anglican priest whose literary career took place during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James the VI & I. It is not clear if this short version was achieved just by selecting the shorter accounts of voyages, discoveries and acts of villainy & piracy, or if some of them have been edited down to a congenial length.
Hakluyt was connected to various leading figures in English political life (of the first part of the seventeenth century), and was busy collecting and publishing accounts of voyages to foreign and far off lands as a way of promoting trade, and in particular the colonisation of Virginia. The divers materials gathered herein are of three types. Firstly voyages in which the ship's company do boldly set upon ships flying the flag of the King of Spain, pillage the harbours and towns belonging to said King, gain much treasure in gold, silver and trade goods from the Indies, China or the New World but at the cost of ships and many men before returning to England. Secondly traffic to the utmost lands of the Earth undertaken for the purpose of trade in which the products of the Kingdom of England are to be exchanged for those of other lands to the enrichment of both, in these adventures the merchants are often defrauded, robbed, lost, run aground and starve most lamentably before returning to England. Finally there are lists of equipment and goods necessary for a ship's company seeking to undertake a whaling voyage or to trade with Brazil or the like.
There's a naivety about many of the accounts that leaves you wondering how the English ever managed to get established as a seafaring nation at all. For instance on one voyage to the East Indies the crew are already running short of food by the time they reach Cape Verde (so say 1/5 or 1/6 of the way there), but luckily they are able to rob a passing Portuguese ship of their food and wine. Then there is hardly an account in which a group of ships sets out without one or more lost - sometimes just blown away in a storm and never seen again, other ships are ravaged by storms, run aground or occasionally are shot up when attempted piracy goes wrong. Surprisingly groups of men appear happy to be abandoned on hostile shores on the vague promise of the Captain that he'll sail back and collect them in a years time - in one case it takes a man 18 years to get back home. It's enough to leave you wanting to leave international seafaring to the Dutch.
Everything takes a long time. A reasonably straight forward voyage to the East Indies and back, or to Persia via Archangelsk and across Russia might take three years.
It's also striking that all this effort hardly seems worth while. Apart from the long plundering voyages of Sir Francis Drake or Sir Walter Raleigh in which they essentially travel around the world stealing what ever seems valuable (people, silver, spices) the amounts of goods actually traded can hardly offset the considerable costs (particularly considering the loss of ships).
On the upside everything is there to be eaten. Puffins, penguins and seals are all evaluated as foodstuffs (they all seem to taste like mutton and not like chicken, perhaps evidence of a cultural shift in English taste buds over the centuries). This is good, because running out of food in the middle of nowhere is a common theme to many of these stories.
The downside of this collection, in which every account could be expanded to make an implausible novel, is that the accounts of distant lands are brief and sketchy though occasionally intriguing. Landing on Newfoundland, to make friends with the locals the English reasonably enough give them iron knives but also play instruments and then bizarrely engage in leaping competitions, the true language of international understanding apparently, is competitive sports.
Fittingly the second-hand copy I have has a recipe for Soda-bread written out in pencil on the inside of the back cover. Just the thing for hungry seafarers weary of the taste of salted penguin.
Hakluyt was connected to various leading figures in English political life (of the first part of the seventeenth century), and was busy collecting and publishing accounts of voyages to foreign and far off lands as a way of promoting trade, and in particular the colonisation of Virginia. The divers materials gathered herein are of three types. Firstly voyages in which the ship's company do boldly set upon ships flying the flag of the King of Spain, pillage the harbours and towns belonging to said King, gain much treasure in gold, silver and trade goods from the Indies, China or the New World but at the cost of ships and many men before returning to England. Secondly traffic to the utmost lands of the Earth undertaken for the purpose of trade in which the products of the Kingdom of England are to be exchanged for those of other lands to the enrichment of both, in these adventures the merchants are often defrauded, robbed, lost, run aground and starve most lamentably before returning to England. Finally there are lists of equipment and goods necessary for a ship's company seeking to undertake a whaling voyage or to trade with Brazil or the like.
There's a naivety about many of the accounts that leaves you wondering how the English ever managed to get established as a seafaring nation at all. For instance on one voyage to the East Indies the crew are already running short of food by the time they reach Cape Verde (so say 1/5 or 1/6 of the way there), but luckily they are able to rob a passing Portuguese ship of their food and wine. Then there is hardly an account in which a group of ships sets out without one or more lost - sometimes just blown away in a storm and never seen again, other ships are ravaged by storms, run aground or occasionally are shot up when attempted piracy goes wrong. Surprisingly groups of men appear happy to be abandoned on hostile shores on the vague promise of the Captain that he'll sail back and collect them in a years time - in one case it takes a man 18 years to get back home. It's enough to leave you wanting to leave international seafaring to the Dutch.
Everything takes a long time. A reasonably straight forward voyage to the East Indies and back, or to Persia via Archangelsk and across Russia might take three years.
It's also striking that all this effort hardly seems worth while. Apart from the long plundering voyages of Sir Francis Drake or Sir Walter Raleigh in which they essentially travel around the world stealing what ever seems valuable (people, silver, spices) the amounts of goods actually traded can hardly offset the considerable costs (particularly considering the loss of ships).
On the upside everything is there to be eaten. Puffins, penguins and seals are all evaluated as foodstuffs (they all seem to taste like mutton and not like chicken, perhaps evidence of a cultural shift in English taste buds over the centuries). This is good, because running out of food in the middle of nowhere is a common theme to many of these stories.
The downside of this collection, in which every account could be expanded to make an implausible novel, is that the accounts of distant lands are brief and sketchy though occasionally intriguing. Landing on Newfoundland, to make friends with the locals the English reasonably enough give them iron knives but also play instruments and then bizarrely engage in leaping competitions, the true language of international understanding apparently, is competitive sports.
Fittingly the second-hand copy I have has a recipe for Soda-bread written out in pencil on the inside of the back cover. Just the thing for hungry seafarers weary of the taste of salted penguin.
March 25, 2022
The Everyman edition extends to eight volumes and includes all the successive collections of accounts of voyages and discoveries in the order Hakluyt published them, with the original 16th- or 17th-century spelling. More manageable though not much more readable is this selection of the more interesting and important voyages, arranged in chronological order and with modernized spelling. But I wish the accounts had been framed within a commentary to help the reader understand the significance of each voyage, along with maps to show where they took place.
July 14, 2008
Lots of good stuff here, this being a compilation of logs, accounts and letters from sailors travelling around previously uncontacted parts. The majority are from the sixteenth century (all but 3 or 4 actually). Some are particularly striking. The one I enjoyed the most was a very matter of fact account of one man's abandonment in Mexico by his fellows and what happened to him there during the course of the next 18 years - enslavement, hardship and eventual return.
August 24, 2024
An interesting collection of journals, notes, and logs written by various English explorers and traders. Often the entries are very brief and limited, but there are some that are lengthier and more interesting.
November 1, 2019
This a magical book; diaries, log books and other first person accounts of journeys taken by English voyagers. The book actually is a set of ten volumes and this is just a Penguin selection from it. It starts with concessions gained by King Canute for British merchants in 890 and carries on through Ingulphus' voyage to Jerusalem in 1064. Reading these accounts gives a completely different view of geographical knowledge in early years to what we are usually given. Of particular interest is the expansion of British trade into Russia and south to Turkey through the Tudor years. It wasn't just the Vikings who penetrated into western Asia. Of course the editor has included Hawkins, Drake, and Raleigh but the volume ends in 1600 and Hakluyt died in 1616 so I don't know whether he would have included the Mr. Dampier about whom I was reading as a result of looking for this book.
Hearing about situations in the words of the men involved is really fascinating and makes the history vivid. Loved this.
Hearing about situations in the words of the men involved is really fascinating and makes the history vivid. Loved this.
July 27, 2012
Incredibly dry..... I'm surprised that this is not only on the list of the 100 greatest adventure books of all time but also that it is ranked higher than Arlene Blum's "Anapurna" and William Bligh's "Mutiny on the Bounty." While this novel was said to inspire the English to explore the high seas, it only inspired me to sleep.
October 11, 2022
On principle
November 27, 2020
As a compilation of a wide range of documents, this is a truly unique and practical look into the clash of cultures that was happening in the 16th century... some entries are simply logs of transactions, while others are accounts that lend credence to the saying that true life is stranger than fiction.
January 14, 2018
amazing reality
July 6, 2020
On National Geographic's list of 100 Greatest Adventure Books. Interesting history. Dry writing.
June 14, 2022
Real history and adventure when adventure didn't mean going to an amusement park.
August 17, 2022
Richard Hakluyt was an English geographer noted for his persistent promotion of Elizabethan overseas expansion, especially the colonization of North America. In Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589), he provides almost everything known about the early English voyages to North America.
He made a point of becoming acquainted with the most important sea captains, merchants, and sailors of England. This was the time when English attention was fixed on finding the northeast and northwest passages to the Orient and on Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the world. Hakluyt was concerned with the activities of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Martin Frobisher, who were both searching for a passage to the East; was consulting Abraham Ortelius, compiler of the world’s first atlas, and Gerardus Mercator, the Flemish mapmaker, on cosmographical problems; and was gaining approval for future overseas exploration from such politically prominent men as Lord Burghley, Sir Francis Walsingham, and Sir Robert Cecil. He thus embarked upon his career as a “publicist and a counsellor for present and future national enterprises across the ocean.” His policy, constantly expounded, was the exploration of temperate North America in conjunction with the search for the Northwest Passage, the establishment of England’s claim to possession based on the discovery of North America by John and Sebastian Cabot, and the foundation of a “plantation” to foster national trade and national well-being.
In support of Walter Raleigh’s colonizing project in Virginia, he prepared a report, known briefly as Discourse of Western Planting (written in 1584), which set out very forcefully the political and economic benefits from such a colony and the necessity for state financial support of the project. This was presented to Queen Elizabeth I, who rewarded Hakluyt with a prebend (ecclesiastical post) at Bristol Cathedral but took no steps to help Raleigh. The Discourse, a secret report, was not printed until 1877.
He was one of the chief promoters of the petition to the crown for patents to colonize Virginia in 1606. It has been asserted that the income of the East India Company was increased by £20,000 through a study of Hakluyt’s Voyages.
He made a point of becoming acquainted with the most important sea captains, merchants, and sailors of England. This was the time when English attention was fixed on finding the northeast and northwest passages to the Orient and on Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the world. Hakluyt was concerned with the activities of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Martin Frobisher, who were both searching for a passage to the East; was consulting Abraham Ortelius, compiler of the world’s first atlas, and Gerardus Mercator, the Flemish mapmaker, on cosmographical problems; and was gaining approval for future overseas exploration from such politically prominent men as Lord Burghley, Sir Francis Walsingham, and Sir Robert Cecil. He thus embarked upon his career as a “publicist and a counsellor for present and future national enterprises across the ocean.” His policy, constantly expounded, was the exploration of temperate North America in conjunction with the search for the Northwest Passage, the establishment of England’s claim to possession based on the discovery of North America by John and Sebastian Cabot, and the foundation of a “plantation” to foster national trade and national well-being.
In support of Walter Raleigh’s colonizing project in Virginia, he prepared a report, known briefly as Discourse of Western Planting (written in 1584), which set out very forcefully the political and economic benefits from such a colony and the necessity for state financial support of the project. This was presented to Queen Elizabeth I, who rewarded Hakluyt with a prebend (ecclesiastical post) at Bristol Cathedral but took no steps to help Raleigh. The Discourse, a secret report, was not printed until 1877.
He was one of the chief promoters of the petition to the crown for patents to colonize Virginia in 1606. It has been asserted that the income of the East India Company was increased by £20,000 through a study of Hakluyt’s Voyages.
January 23, 2024
Read Hakluyt's Dedicatory Epistle to The Principal Navigations
June 15, 2024
An impressive compilation of primary source records of Elizabethan exploration, but too many details for this intuitive thinker.
November 2, 2025
“The prose epic of the English nation” - James Anthony Froude
“Oh bet another Hakluyt reading” - the students of FA25-HIST-13184
“Oh bet another Hakluyt reading” - the students of FA25-HIST-13184
October 2, 2013
Fascinating but hard going when you normally read fiction, or modern history.
Sounds snobbish and isn't meant to be, but this was written at a time when only the well educated would read or be able to afford books. It was written for the people who paid up front for expeditions and was to interest them in supporting further discoveries
Sounds snobbish and isn't meant to be, but this was written at a time when only the well educated would read or be able to afford books. It was written for the people who paid up front for expeditions and was to interest them in supporting further discoveries
July 31, 2011
Absolutely fantastic. What a counterpoint to Shakespeare's diction. Not that I'm reprimanding The Bard, but in Hakluyt, you see the simpler side of (mostly) Elizabethan era English. Sure, it's still quite more adorned than modern usage, but generally much more accessible than Skakey's.
August 20, 2009
Interesting although not long enough (I want a book about each sailor/explorer). Of course I would say that.
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June 26, 2010Voyages and Discoveries: Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nat (English Library) by Richard Hakluyt (1972)
August 14, 2012
I own a complete edition published in the early 1900s. This is absolutely invaluable for anyone interested in the voyages of discovery.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews