Hariot and White (1585-1588)
Hariot, Thomas (1560-1621). A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia [...]. A photolithographed reproduction of the edition printed at Frankfurt, in 1590. Manchester, England: A. Brothers, 1888.
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In March 1584 Queen Elizabeth of England granted Sir Walter Raleigh a territory of 200 leagues wherever he chose to settle in North America. Back in England a few months later, a reconnaissance expedition identified Virginia as a favourable place for realizing Raleigh's plans. A first attempt failed; from August 1585 to June 1586 a group of settlers stayed on Roanoke Island in Chesapeake Bay, but the hostility of the Indians of North America and lack of supplies forced the group to return to England. In May 1587 Sir Walter Raleigh sent a second expedition headed by one John White. The colonists settled on Roanoke Island, and a few weeks after his arrival John White returned to England in search of provisions. But he was unable to get back until 1590, and when he did, there was no longer anyone there.
Among the settlers who stayed in Virginia from 1585 to 1586 was Thomas Hariot, a young man of 25 who had been hired as a surveyor and historiographer. The Brief and true report he published in 1586 is a concise but accurate inventory of Virginia's natural resources: fauna, flora, fish and ore. Born in Oxford in 1560, Hariot died in London in 1621.
John White, who headed the second expedition as governor of the future colony, had also participated in the vain attempt to found a colony between 1585 and 1586. During his first stay in Virginia, White painted no fewer than 75 watercolours illustrating the fauna, flora, and way of life of the Indians of North America.
In 1590 Théodore de Bry published 23 of White's watercolours in the form of engravings, together with Hariot's account. It was an immediate success: the work was translated into Latin, French and German and went through at least 17 printings from 1590 to 1620.
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