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The history of how North Atlantic America was revealed to the Europeans in the 16th and early 17th centuries is largely forgotten. This book seeks to remedy that, describing the English, French and Dutch expeditions to North America before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock. Drawing extensively on firsthand accounts of explorers, this history spans the precolonial period from John Cabot's discovery of Newfoundland in 1497 to the founding of Jamestown in 1607.
The French and English expeditions into the North Atlantic searching for cod, gold, and a route to China came first, followed by Jaques Cartier's and other French fur trading activities in the St. Lawrence River Valley, and then a series of French and English expeditions along the New England coast in pursuit of cod and furs. The pre-colonial period would end after Henry Hudson's exploits in New York Harbor and Hudson Bay. Central to the story of European discovery was their contacts with the dense populations of Indigenous people and the effect their presence had on tribal cultures. What generally began as friendly interactions almost always turned ugly as the Europeans pushed for land, and their diseases raced through the native people. This exhaustively researched book presents many such events from an understudied period of European exploration.
List of contents
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction: North Atlantic America Before the Europeans Arrived
One. Newfoundland: The First European Touchpoint, 1497-1527
Two. Jacques Cartier's Voyages of Discovery: 1534-1542
Three. Fool's Gold: The Arctic Expeditions of Martin Frobisher, 1576-1578
Four. The Arctic Voyages of John Davis: 1585-1587
Five. English and French Expeditions to the North Atlantic: 1578-1621
Six. L'Acadie: The French Begin a Fur Trading Empire, 1588-1603
Seven. Pierre Dugua de Monts's Colonies at Saint Croix and Port Royal: 1603-1606
Eight. English Expeditions to New England: 1602-1605
Nine. Samuel de Champlain and the Founding of Québec: 1608-1635
Ten. The Virginia Companies and the First Two Attempts to Settle Maine: 1607-1608
Eleven. The Founding of Jamestown by the London Company: 1606-1608
Twelve. Jamestown Teeters but Survives: 1608-1622
Thirteen. John Smith's Chesapeake Voyages: 1608
Fourteen. The Enduring Dream of Ferdinando Gorges: 1611-1619
Fifteen. Henry Hudson and the Early Dutch Expeditions: 1609-1621
Epilogue: Northern Atlantic America in the Early Seventeenth Century
Bibliography
Index
About the author
James F. Hancock is a university distinguished professor (emeritus) at Michigan State University. He is the author of several books and lives in Scarborough, Maine.
