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THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Series One: The Papers of Sir Hans Sloane, 1660-1753 from the British Library, London
Parts 2 and 3: Manuscript Records of Voyages of Discovery, 1450-1750

Publisher's Note

Sir Hans Sloane’s interest in voyages of discovery and exploration can be traced to his own early experiences. Born in Dublin, he came to London in 1679, aged 19, and spent four years studying medicine and botany. He came under the influence of Robert Boyle and John Ray who encouraged him to travel abroad. He went to Paris in 1683 and studied under Tournefort and Sanlyon at the Jardin Royal des Plantes and the Hôpital de la Charité, gaining his MD from the University of Orange. He then declined to embark on a Grand Tour of Italy and instead spent a year at Montpellier under the tutelage of Pierre Chirac and Pierre Magnol. He returned to England in 1684, and was appointed personal physician to Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, newly appointed governor of Jamaica.

John Ray was enthusiastic about this opportunity for Sloane to “search out and examine thoroughly the natural varieties of that island” notwithstanding “the danger and hazard of so long a voyage.” Sloane and the Duke sailed for Jamaica in October 1687 and, after brief respites in Madeira and the Canaries, they reached Barbados in late November. They then proceeded to Jamaica, via Nevis, Santa Cruz, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. Sloane took detailed notes all the while and immersed himself in the natural history of the region as well as attending to his duties as a physician. The latter brought him into contact with a number of travellers and reformed pirates who had settled on the island, including Henry Morgan the Welsh buccaneer. Sloane’s visit was curtailed by the death of the Duke in October 1688, and Sloane sailed for home in March 1689, not knowing that there was a new king (William of Orange) on the throne.

Sloane then settled into a life as an eminent society physician and a great figure in the scientific societies of his time. He gained the respect of his peers by gradually collating, analysing and publishing the results of his explorations in Jamaica. This culminated with the publication of his Voyage to the Islands of Madeira, Barbados, Nieves, St Christopher’s and Jamaica (London, 1707 and 1725).

As a Collector, Sloane also continued to amass a vast library of original manuscripts relating to travel, voyages of discovery and the sea. These range from a mid Fifteenth Century copy of the travels of Marco Polo (Sloane 251) and original papers of Drake, Frobisher, Hawkins and Ralegh (Sloane 43, 61, 62, 63, 301, 359, 524, 1133, 1519, 1856, 2177, 2450, 3079, 3272, 3520 and others), to the Charter granted to the Company of Royal Adventurers relating to trade in Africa, (Sloane 205) and an account of The Destruction of the Indias by Bartolomé de Las Casas (Sloane 375, 3052 and 3053).

Further notable items in Part 2 include the South Sea journals of Basil Ringrose (Sloane 48) and John Cox (Sloane 49), a draft of government framed by William Penn for Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 1680 (Sloane 79), Pedro Baretto de Rosende’s Historical & Topographical account of Portuguese Settlements in the East Indies, 1646 (Sloane 197), a journal of a journey to Russia by Nicolai Warkottschii, 1593 (Sloane 232), Papers of Robert Dudley relating to the West Indies (Sloane 358), Records of the travels of Richard Bell, gun founder to the Great Moghuls, travelling in India and the Middle East, 1654-1688 (Sloane 811), the journal of John Jourdain, recording an East Indies voyage, 1607-17, and travels in Arabia, the territories of the Great Moghul (Sloane 858), Records of the East India Company Factory at Tanqueen, 1672-77 (Sloane 998), Adriano de las Cartes on the Compaignia de Jesus in China, 1621-26 (Sloane 1005), a History of Travaille into Virginia and a dictionary of the Indian Language (Sloane 1622), and a narrative of the voyage of Christopher Columbus (Sloane 1709).

Further notable items in Part 3 include records of the travels of Thomas and Edward Browne in Britain and Europe (Sloane 1899, 1900, 1905, 1906 and 1908), the Charter granted by Charles II to the East India Company in 1661 (Sloane 2178), a copy of the patent for the Hudson’s Bay Company (Sloane 2447), observations on China (Sloane 2872), Papers of William Penn (Sloane 3232 and Sloane 3926), the outstanding manuscript recording the voyage of William Dampier to the South Seas, 1681-1691 (Sloane 3236), James Petivar’s account of animals and plants in Maryland and Cotton Mather’s account of savages in New England (Sloane 3324), Pierre Radisson’s survey of the Canadian North for the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1684 (Sloane 3527), and records of the voyages of Captain John Kempthorne to China, Japan and the East Indies (Sloane 3665, 3668, 3670, 3671 and 3814).

These manuscripts document voyages and travels to Africa, the Americas, China, India, Japan, the East Indies, the West Indies, Russia and the South Seas and attempts to circumnavigate the world and find the quickest trade routes to India and China.

For North America there is good material concerning Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories, New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Florida.

There are works on navigation and geography, original rutters and waggoners (pictorial representations of sea routes such as Charles II’s presentation copy of Hack’s South Sea Waggoner) describing approved sea routes, accounts of victualling and provisions, notes on the state of the English fleet, records of naval escapades (including an account of the burning of Cadiz), and descriptions of piracy.

Was this an age of heroic discovery or an age in which indigenous peoples were thoughtlessly wiped out? Were new territories exploited carefully or carelessly? Did the new territories open up fresh horizons or were they just a broader canvas on which to continue age old conflicts? These records enable modern readers to understand the mindset of the explorers, settlers, traders, natural historians and politicians of this period, so that a more sophisticated and more nuanced picture of these early contacts between civilizations can be developed. Engelbert Kaempher’s original, seventeenth century journals concerning his travels in Persia, Japan and the Far East are the focus of a separate project, East Meets West, Part 2.

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