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Americae / pars, Nunc Virginia / dicta, primum ab Angli / inuenta, sumtibus Dn. Walteri, 1590

 Item

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: This is a collection of 48 maps and related images, the gift of Henry and Kaye Spalding, Jr., Class of 1960. The maps focus on the Chespeake Bay, the body of water that enabled the settlement and development of the state of Virginia. They depict the area between the years of 1590 and 1860, and are drawn by European mapmakers and, as evidenced in later works, those residing in the United States of America.

Dates

  • 1590

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access will require additional advanced notice. Copies of digital files will be provided for use upon request.

Extent

From the Collection: 90.8 Megabytes (59 total images. Resized digital scans of the Spalding Collection maps are available through the Hampden-Sydney Archives & Special Collections' Digital Repository.)

From the Collection: 48 Sheets (The original maps in the Henry and Kaye Spalding Collection are framed and displayed throughout the fourth floor of Bortz Library.)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: Romance languages

From the Collection: Germanic languages

Physical Description

Frankfort, 1590; Theodor de Bry (1528-1598) used the watercolor map drawn by John White in 1585 as the basis for his engraved map of Virginia. Although primarily a map of what became the North Carolina coast, the map is the earliest published representation of the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay ("Chesepiooc Sinus") and the first to show the approach to Virginia from the sea (north is to the right). The map is beautifully and simply illustrated with ships, a sea monster, and indigenous figures. In April 1585 John White (fl. 1585-1598) accompanied Ralph Lane (ca. 1530-1603) to America to establish the first English settlement with one-hundred-eight colonists. Sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh under a patent from Queen Elizabeth, the expedition was led by Sir Richard Grenville, Raleigh's cousin, but when Grenville returned to England in August, Lane remained as governor of the new colony. In June 1586 one-hundred-three surviving colonists sailed back to England with Sir Francis Drake on his return after his raid on the West Indies. White returned to American in May 1587 as governor of a colony of one-hundred-fifty people but left for England in August for supplies. Unable to return to Virginia until 1590, White found that the colonists, including his daughter, Eleanor Dare, and granddaughter, Virginia, had vanished. Thomas Hariot (ca. 1560-1621) was with White and Lane in 1585. A mathematician and astronomer, Hariot assessed the area's economic possibilities and described the native peoples. In 1588 Thomas Hariot published his account of the 1585 voyage in A Briefe and True Report of the New Founde Land of Virginia. The 1590 edition included White's map and de Bry's engravings of White's drawings of the native inhabitants. The map was published again in 1600, 1608, 1620, and possibly 1634. However, once the page has been removed from the volume, the publishing date cannot be determined. --From This New Founde Lande: The Henry & Kaye Spalding Map Collection at Hampden-Sydney College, 2008.

Creator

Repository Details

Part of the Hampden-Sydney College Archives & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Hampden-Sydney College
Walter M. Bortz III Library
P.O. Box 7
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943 United States
(434) 223-7225