THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Series One: The Papers of Sir Hans Sloane, 1660-1753 from the British Library, London
Part 3: Manuscript Records of Voyages of Discovery, 1450-1750

Sir Hans Sloane was the greatest collector in an age of great collectors.  His interest in voyages of discovery was fired by his own journey to Jamaica and the Caribbean, 1687-1689, and his meetings with Henry Morgan.  His collection includes important sources documenting exploration, colonisation, the Tudor and Stuart navy, imperial ambitions, pirates, and the growth of international trade. Part 3 features:

• Accounts of an expedition for the discovery of a route to China, 1582;
• The voyage of Captain Stanes to Muscat in Arabia, 1703/4;
• Adventures of William Dampier in the South Seas and America, 1681-91;
• Numerous manuscripts describing the voyages of Francis Drake, John Hawkins, Walter Ralegh, and expeditions to Cadiz;
• A manuscript of the Historia de las Indias by Bartolomé de Las Casas;
• 16th century notes on Brazilian natural history;
• European travel journals of Thomas and Edward Browne;
• Journal of a voyage to Maryland, a 'true relation concerning New England'; and papers of John Banister of Virginia on local plants and animals;
• Pierre Radisson surveying Canada for the Hudson's Bay Company, 1684;
• Letters regarding slavery, voodoo and witchcraft in Barbados;
• The patent of the Hudson's Bay Company, records of the East India Company; and a Royal Proclamation concerning the African Company;
• Voyages to the East Indies and India by Captain Kempthorne 1667-87.