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Treaty of Tordesillas
So if you watched the US presidential debate last night, you would have heard one of the candidates make mention that the Iran arms deal is the “worst in history”. This got me thinking. No matter what your political persuasion, I think we can all agree this is hyperbole. All of history is a very, very long time and there have been some ridiculously bad deals signed. One that comes to mind is the Treaty of Tordesillas. In the 15th century, both Spain and Portugal were two of the world’s superpowers. Both countries were sending out explorers and divvying up the New World (that’s another set of terrible treaties that…
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Puritans, Separatists and the Pilgrim Fathers
So we all know the story… bunch of Puritans, bit of religious persecution and New England was born. Right? Wrong. OK, lets unpick this bit of history and see what happens. Firstly, we have to remember that the Pilgrim Fathers weren’t the first settlers in the new found lands of America. Some conveniently overlook that America had already been successfully colonised in and around Virginia for a good fifteen years before they arrived. The initial Mayflower plan had been an extension of that colony to the North of Jamestown, however through fair means or foul, they landed much further north in the area of Cape Cod, in what is now…
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William Bradford and the Mayflower
Born in around 1590, to wealthy farmers Alice and William Bradford, William lost his father at just a year old. His mother remarried when he was four and he was sent to live with his grandparents. When his grandfather died just two years later, he returned to his mother and step-father only for her to pass away the following year. Young William was soon on the move again, this time to his two uncles, who expected their young charge to be able to help out around the farm. Alas William in his diary, explained he suffered a long illness, quite possibly grief/depression related in modern terms, and so took to…
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Sir Walter Raleigh and the Lost Colony
Sir Walter Raleigh was riding high as a favorite of Elizabeth I. He had come to court and smitten the queen with his admiration. He had first gone to Ireland in 1580 to suppress a rebellion in Munster, and at that time came to the attention of the queen. She showered him with estates in Ireland and her attention. He used this attention to further his ambitions. In 1575, he had traveled with his half brother,explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert, to the New World and it had planted the seed of an idea. He petitioned the queen to support Gilbert’s cause and continue exploration of the New World. Spain and Portugal…
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The Darien Scheme
Scottish settlement in America brings to mind Nova Scotia or any of the original thirteen colonies. There was one Scottish settlement which is much less known, but is just as important if not more so. Since the crowns of England and Scotland had been united under James I, the fortunes of the two countries were tied closer than ever. However, things were not rosy in Scotland. Poverty, war, famine and homelessness was plaguing the land and threatening to have the Scottish identity swallowed up by their more prosperous neighbors the the south. William Paterson, a Scot who had made his fortune as one of the founding directors of the Bank…
