Meta Incognita: A Discourse of Discovery

Ship


Abstract

Meta Incognita: A Discourse of Discovery The Meta Incognita Project was initiated to cast new light on the Arctic voyages of Martin Frobisher and their significance for the histories of North America and Britain. The papers published here are the result of several years of research in British and European archives, undertaken by an Archival Research Task Force set up in England under the chairmanship of Sir Ian Gourlay and with the guidance of the Meta Incognita Project Steering Committee. Leading scholars have broken new ground in examining the sociopolitical, technological, and historical contexts, the conduct of the expeditions, the roles and complex motivations of some of the key players, the significance of the voyages for the future both of English oceanic exploration and of imperial and entrepreneurial ambitions, and questions about intercultural contact between Inuit and Europeans. Although the Elizabethan venture failed in its goals to discover a northwest passage, to mine precious metals, and to establish a colony in the future Canadian Arctic, it left valuable legacies which have not been fully demonstrated until now.

The collection Meta Incognita: A Discourse of Discovery. Martin Frobisher's Arctic Expeditions, 1576-1578 is edited by one of Canada's most renowned scholars, Professor Thomas Symons, chairman of the Steering Committee.

Mercury Series, Directorate, Paper 10 (1999)
ISBN 0-660-17507-X
21.5 x 27.6 cm, 636 pp.
18 colour photos, 95 black and white images



Contents

Volume 1

The Archival Research Task Force U.K. ( ARTAF )
By Sir Ian GourlayPaper Abstract )

Frobisher in the Context of Early English Exploration
By David QuinnPaper Abstract )

A Narrative of Frobisher's Arctic Voyages
By Ann SavoursPaper Abstract )

"A right Heroicall heart": Sir Martin Frobisher
By James McDermottPaper Abstract )

Michael Lok, Mercer and Merchant Adventurer
By James McDermottPaper Abstract )

The Company of Cathay: the Financing and Organization of the Frobisher Voyages
By James McDermottPaper Abstract )

The Cartographic Lure of the Northwest Passage: Its Real and Imaginary Geography
By Richard I. RugglesPaper Abstract )

The Medical Climate of Frobisher's England: Maritime Influences
By Sir James WattPaper Abstract )

John Dee's Role in Martin Frobisher's Northwest Enterprise
By William H. ShermanPaper Abstract )


Volume 2

Frobisher's Ships: the Ships of the North-Western Atlantic Voyages, 1576-1578
By Ian FrielPaper Abstract )

Cathay and the Way Thither: the Navigation of the Frobisher Voyages
By James McDermott and David W. WatersPaper Abstract )

Speculative Ambitions and the Reputations of Frobisher's Metallurgists
By Robert BaldwinPaper Abstract )

Methods of Assaying Ore and Their Application in the Frobisher Ventures
By Bernard AllairePaper Abstract )

The Construction of the Dartford Furnaces
By James McDermottPaper Abstract )

How Strange is a Stranger?
A Survey of Opportunities for Inuit-European Contact in the Davis Strait before 1576

By Kirsten A. SeaverPaper Abstract )

The Captured "Countrey People": Their Depiction and Medical History
By Ann Savours and Sir James WattPaper Abstract )

Baffin Island Walrus Mandibles and Iron Blooms
By Kirsten A. SeaverPaper Abstract )

Martin Frobisher, the Spaniards and a Sixteenth Century Northern Spy
By Bernard Allaire and Donald HogarthPaper Abstract )

French Reactions to the Northwest Voyages and
the Assays by Geoffroy Le Brumen of the Frobisher Ore ( 1576-1584 )

By Bernard AllairePaper Abstract )

The Medical Record of the Frobisher Voyages of 1576, 1577 and 1578
By Sir James WattPaper Abstract )






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