New Worlds Reflected by Chloë Houston

Author:Chloë Houston [Houston, Chloë]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780754666479
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2010-11-10T00:00:00+00:00

The next morning they failed not to come againe to the waters side, and our Generall againe setting out our boate, one of our men leaping over rashly ashore, and offering friendly to imbrace them, they set violent hands on him, offering a dagger to his throte if hee made any resistance, and so laying him on a horse, carried him away: so that a man cannot be too circumspect and warie of himselfe among such miscreants.44

Significant in determining this outcome is the fact that the local inhabitants are accustomed to Christian visitors and already possess ‘sheepe’: in other words, they do not represent a new market, and already possess the raw materials to make their own cloth. In a region with established trade, the potent Protestant colonial fantasy of dressing local inhabitants through the gift of English cloth we saw in Nova Albion is inappropriate.

The later stops on both the east and west seaboards of South America follow a similar pattern, with trade relations between Drake and local inhabitants determined by the level of previous interaction, specifically with the Iberian nations. Since by the time Hakluyt published his account Spain was united with Portugal, there appears no clearly discernible difference in the text’s attitude to each nation, though when Drake undertook the voyage they were separate. Indeed, in all the encounters described with Spanish and Portuguese nationals, Hakluyt’s narrative appears anxious to assess future trading possibilities, especially in relation to English cloth, resulting in repeated textual features. For example, the nature of the climate is of concern as temperateness determines the need for cloth, and how well European hemp will grow. At each landing point information is provided about what the inhabitants are wearing – if anything – and whether they have the raw materials – sheep – from which to make wool, as well as what local commodities might be of trading interest to the English, and an assessment of the ease of establishing trade. Descriptions of the likelihood of achieving successful and profitable trade are conditioned by the previous contact the locals have had with other Europeans. Wherever this contact is minimal, future trading relations are imagined particularly positively.

At every stop where Drake finds trade established with the Iberians, he is unable to complete his own transactions. For example in the Spanish territory around the islands near the River Plate in Brazil – one of the areas of particular interest to the English in the 1570s – the locals’ distrust of the new arrivals complicates attempts to establish friendly trade:

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