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Sir Walter Raleigh (ca. 1552–1618) was an English explorer, soldier, writer, and a favorite at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, who granted him a charter to explore North America. Although he sponsored the attempts in the 1580s to colonize Roanoke…

This map engraved by Theodor de Bry (1528–1598) was published in 1590 to accompany his reprint of Thomas Harriot's A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, which he issued in Latin, German, French, and English to ensure the book…

Gerard Mercator (1512–1594) was born in Flanders, now known as Belgium. The son of a shoemaker, he graduated in 1532 from the University of Louvain, where he studied astronomy, geography, and mathematics. Afterwards he worked as an engraver,…