ABSTRACT

The English progress towards the exploration and settlement of North America was a slow one and it is not until 1582 that propaganda for American colonization becomes overt. By the latter part of 1586 enough was known of North American conditions to justify more intelligent publicity, though even then it was used over a somewhat limited field. The publications on the Virginia voyages down to the end of 1590 demonstrated fully to European readers the capacity of Englishmen to explore and to experiment with colonies in North America, while they gave so much practical and specific detail that little ambiguity was left about the general lines of English enterprise and the belief was kept current that the 1587 settlers had survived. One surprising thing about the Roanoke ventures is that apart from continued Spanish interest in them, which has been illustrated, and White's contributions, nothing has so far emerged to show continued English interest in the voyages or their resumption.