Framing “Nova Albion”: Marking possession in Richard Hakluyt’s The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation

Abstract

This article examines the textual framing of a cluster of items in Richard Hakluyt’s The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation (1598-1600) relating to the area on the Pacific coast of North America that Francis Drake named “Nova Albion.” Contextualised in relation to the colonial programmes of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Ralegh, it explores how a variety of editorial techniques combine to encourage a particular understanding of the history of exploration in this region that privileges English territorial claims over those of Spain. What is revealed is a delicate negotiation of the tensions raised by Hakluyt’s use of pre-existing, mainly non-English materials to attempt to legitimise Drake’s actions by aligning them with the Spanish conquistadorial tradition, while at the same time down-playing the extent and significance of previous Spanish activity in that region.