ABSTRACT
This chapter joins the depictions of the symerons to descriptions of the Indigenous peoples with whom a set of contemporaneous expeditionaries, Martin Frobisher and Richard Davis, interacted in the Arctic zone. The symerons, shaped into perfect exemplars of resistance by English authors, also served to instruct readers as to how an empire might be reverse-engineered based upon the existing Spanish model or plan. The chapter utilizes the rebel slaves as a vector through which to study how face-to-face encounters between Europeans and Indigenous peoples were depicted by Englishmen in print. Early modern Englishmen were understandably disturbed by this entity. The Spanish example provided proof, if any were needed, that imperial possessions might be converted into enhanced power in Europe. Drake’s activities included an important interaction with a body of Indigenous people in southern California during the circumnavigation.
