The Early English and French Explorers Page

Portrait of Indian by John White

Some Suggested Sources
The major starting place for any study of early English and French explorers is, of course, Hakluyt's Voyages. Published in London in1589 as The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English nation, made by Sea or ouer Land, to the most remote and farthest distant Quarters of the earth at any time within the compasse of these 1500 yeeres..., this enormous monument of human industry has been a perennial favorite. A small sampling can be had in one of several abridgements ( such as the one published by Viking, 1982 ), but the scope of the work can be appreciated only by examining the complete work. It is by no means confined to English exploration although its purpose was to celebrate the acomplishments of English navigators.
The New World: The First Pictures of America, Made by John White and Jaques Le Moyne. With Contemporary Narratives of the Huguenot Settlement in Florida, 1562-1565, and the Virginia Colony, 1585-1590. Edited and annotated by Stefan Lorant. Duell, Sloane, and Pearce, 1946.
Early English and French Voyages, Chiefly from Hakluyt, 1534-1608. Edited by Henry S. Burrage. Scribner's, 1906. Reprinted by Barnes and Noble, 1959.
The Voyages of Champlain, 1604-1618. Edited by William L. Grant. Scribner's, 1907.
Early Narratives of the Northwest, 1634-1699. Edited by Louise P. Kellogg. Scribner's, 1917.

About Early Exploration in America
John Bakeless, The Eyes of Discovery: America as Seen by the First Explorers. Lippincott, 1950. Reprinted by Dover, 1961. A popularly written survey of early exploration of North America.
Samuel Eliot Morison, The Great Explorers. Oxford, 1978.
Justin Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America. Riverside, 1889. This set will perhaps never be superceded and must be seen to be believed.
Discoverers Web. Lots(!) of good stuff here.
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