Abraham Ortelius, Abraham Ortelius his epitome of the theatre of the worlde, 1603 - p.6, England
Shakespeare’s England.
The pocket atlas of Ortelius was a useful handbook for all Elizabethans or Jacobeans who chose to travel, especially to Europe, either in person, or in their dreams of ...
Gasparo Contarini, The commonwealth and government of Venice, 1599 - p.133.
A Shakespeare contemporary writes about Venice.
The lawyer Lewis Lewkenor travelled in Europe, perhaps as a spy working against the English Catholics. He translated Contarini's book on Venice, first ...
Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, a galleon and a flying fish, off the coast of Brazil.
Many of Shakespeare's contemporaries sailed to America.
English ships were famed for their ease of manoeuvrability and sea-worthiness, on which sailors and explorers depended as they travelled to America ...
Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail including British Isles
Shakespeare’s England, on the edge of a world to be explored.
Maps of the known world were becoming more widely available to Shakespeare's contemporaries. Maps often use Latin, then an international ...
Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail of northern part of South America
Guiana, in South America was explored by men known to Shakespeare.
The Spanish ‘conquistadors’ who explored and sought to colonise the Amazon valley followed tales of a golden wealth beyond ...
Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, creature off the coast of California. [Probably a diving whale's tail]
The ocean : a place of danger for Shakespeare’s contemporaries.
Ships returning to England after travel around the world with Francis Drake, or across the Atlantic with Walter Raleigh, brought ...
Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, exotic bird and fish.
Stories of strange birds and beasts were brought back to Shakespeare’s London.
In Shakespeare's The Tempest Trinculo, finding 'the monstrous' Caliban on the beach speculates on how an Englishman ...
Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, Florida and the east coast.
Virginia became England’s colony in Shakespeare’s time.
Virginia, named for England’s virgin queen, Elizabeth, was established in 1584 by Walter Raleigh, and Jamestown was settled ...
Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, Flying fish (a real species) and an unidentified creature.
Sea monsters were legendary for Shakespeare's contemporaries.
In The Tempest (2,2, lines 24-40) Trinculo imagines he has found a sea-monster when he discovers Caliban hiding from the approaching storm ...
Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, The Pacific Ocean and Solomon Islands, showing a galleon and a sea creature, probably a whale.
Ships from Shakespeare’s England explored the world.
The sailing vessels that traded up the river Thames to London and set off from the English Channel, or from West country ports, were familiar ...
Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, The southern Carribean including Trinidad, also a galleon.
Ships from Shakespeare’s London sailed to the Caribbean.
As English settlements were established in the Americas pamphlets describing their experiences were published in London. The slave trade ...
John Norden, The View of London Bridge from east to west, [1597] - detail, a 'taxi' boat passes freight-carrying-boats at anchor
River transport in Shakespeare's London.
In London the main means of crossing the river, apart from the only bridge, was by small rowing boat ferries, which acted as ‘taxi-boats’. These ...
Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 1634 - shipwreck illustration , pl. XLI, p. 341
Shipwrecks and storms at sea were often in the news in Shakespeare's London.
The storms of the Mediterranean sea were notorious. Shakespeare included them in his plays of The Comedy of Errors, Twelfth ...
Michael Drayton, Polyolbion, 1613 - Map of Warwickshire, plate between p.212 & p.213.
Warwickshire and the river Avon, for Shakespeare’s contemporary poet.
Polyolbion, the long poem by Shakespeare’s fellow Warwickshireman, Michael Drayton, is illustrated by fanciful engraved ...
Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes , 1603 - p. 558, Of Coaches..
Shakespeare's French contemporary writes on transport.
Montaigne's essays range widely over subjects, but in 'Of Coaches' the author describes his dislike of any boat, or vehicle transport, whether ...
Simon Latham, Latham's falconry, 1615 - second title page of Book 2, p.1v., detail
Everyday travel on horseback for Shakespeare’s fellow countrymen.
Most Elizabethans, and people for centuries later, traveling both within a local area or, like Shakespeare, from the country ...