Hakluyt's London

Richard Hakluyt was a Londoner. He was well connected at court, enjoying the patronage of two secretaries of state, Sir Francis Walsingham and Sir Robert Cecil, and with London’s mercantile community, especially those concerned with the discovery of new, distant markets. ¹ This essay explores the nature of England’s overseas trade in Hakluyt’s era and the extent to which he reflected or influenced London’s various commercial interests, developing patterns of trade, and government policy.