The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. This volume, first published in 1877, contains four contemporary accounts of the voyages of Sir James Lancaster (c. 1555–1618) between 1591 and 1600 together with the journal of Captain John Knight from his 1606 voyage to discover the 'North-West Passage'. Sir James Lancaster was one of the leading traders and explorers of the Elizabethan era, whose first voyage to India in 1591 was instrumental in establishing the East India Company in 1600.
The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. The first volume issued by the Society was the Observations of Sir Richard Hawkins, and this later edition of that work includes additional narratives about other members of the Hawkins family: Richard's grandfather William, his father Sir John and his cousin William. The volume was 'intended to be a monograph of the naval enterprises of the great Elizabethan navigators of the name of Hawkins', from voyages to Brazil in the reign of Henry VIII to the foundation of the East India Company in 1600.
The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. This 1873 volume was the second on the history of Peru to be translated and edited by Clements R. Markham, Secretary of the Society. It contains four manuscript accounts of the rites and laws of the Incas which throw light on many aspects of Inca and pre-Inca society. All were written by people who had lived and worked in Peru in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century and had access to indigenous sources and traditions. The book includes a contextualising introduction and several indexes.
The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. In this 1872 volume, Clements R. Markham, Honorary Secretary of the Society from 1858 to 1887, and then its President for twenty years, translated and edited four accounts of the Spanish conquest of Peru, written by eye-witnesses including Francisco Pizarro's secretary and his brother Hernando. The narratives include the events surrounding the downfall of the Inca empire; the final document is a notary's account of the distribution of the gold and silver which the Incas paid to the Spaniards as ransom for their ruler.
The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. This 1859 volume contains three accounts of the Amazon region, all translated from the Spanish and covering the century 1539–1639: The Expedition of Gonzalo Pizarro to the Land of Cinnamon; The Voyage of Francisco de Orellana down the River of the Amazons; and the New Discovery of the Great River of the Amazons, by Cristoval de Acuña. An editorial introduction provides a context for the narratives, and an appendix lists the principal tribes of the Amazon, and the sources of this information.
Sir Clements Robert Markham (1830–1916) had a lifelong interest in Peru. Having already travelled there in his early twenties, he was commissioned to return ten years later to supervise the collection of sufficient specimens of the cinchona tree for its introduction to India. The bark of the tree yielded quinine, by then a well-known febrifuge and one of the few effective treatments for malaria. This book, originally published in 1862, is Markham's personal account of his travels. His story moves from the misty heights of the Peruvian mountains, where he suffered from altitude sickness, to the Malabar coastline and its complex, remarkable caste system. Markham also includes a detailed history of the use of cinchona bark, both by Europeans and aboriginal Peruvians, and a discussion of Incan culture since the arrival of the Spanish. His work is still a valuable resource for students of scientific and colonial history.
