A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 06

The volume opens with a vivid tapestry of the first English forays across the Atlantic. It recounts John and Sebastian Cabot’s daring 1497 landing on Newfoundland, the royal patronage they received, and their subsequent voyages toward Brazil, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico. Readers also follow Jacques Cartier’s two expeditions in the 1530s, from the icy coasts of Newfoundland to the lush rivers of New France, complete with observations of the indigenous peoples he encountered and the hardships of a winter spent in the New World.

Shifting eastward, the collection turns to the Portuguese enterprise in India, tracing the early 16th‑century trade routes around the Cape of Good Hope and the fierce contests for control of coastal ports. Detailed reports from viceroys and admirals reveal the strategies of figures like Alfonso Albuquerque, while a Venetian officer’s eyewitness account brings the dramatic siege of Diu by Ottoman forces to life, describing the clash of fleets, the fate of captured garrisons, and the perilous journey back to Suez.