Custodian: University of Glasgow Library Special Collections

Reference: Cp.3.29

In 1594 Raleigh, having interested himself in the Spanish legend of the riches of the city of Manoa (Eldorado) in South America, sent out an expedition to Guiana (modern Venezuela). He sailed to Guiana himself the following year and in 1596, after his return to England, sent out a third expedition under Lawrence Keymis.

His final expedition to South America in 1617 resulted in armed conflict with the Spanish and this in turn led to his execution in 1618.This work, written to refute those who claimed that Raleigh had never been to Guiana, is a storehouse of first-hand impressions and its influence can be traced in the works of Chapman, Shakespeare and Milton. It was an Elizabethan best-seller and the printer Robert Robinson produced no less than three editions of it in the year 1596.