Beyond Frontiers
European colonization sought to expand their empires across the globe. Men following royal decrees, and guided by the divine name of God, invaded newly discovered lands — acts that brought unparalleled wealth to the colonizers and genocide to the native cultures. Literature from the 1600s and 1700s produced a plethora of accounts describing the territorial, cultural, and scientific experience of European men in the new continents, known more specifically as relations. These gathered texts are an introductory representation of the geographies of the Americas, Greenland, the Caribbean, and the coast of Africa. This selection, dating from 1647 to 1759, offers a glimpse into the sense of ambition, adventure and fascination, and in one case justice, driving colonists from the kingdoms of the Netherlands, France, and Spain to sail in these intrepid voyages.
