Sir Walter Raleigh: The History Of The World

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The engraving was printed as the frontispiece of “The History of the World”, a book written by Sir Walter Raleigh who had been responsible for the English colonisation of North America (Virginia). Written when Raleigh was imprisoned for thirteen years for treason against James I, it was not until 1614 that the work was published by William Stansby for Walter Burre. The work was originally written to be a multi-volume report and commentary on the world’s history from the antiquity to the contemporary and was an attempt at making sense of the world through its past.

The composition of the frontispiece is divided into two tiers of a temple. Right in the middle of the print shows a woman — speculated to be Clio, the muse of history, due to the …show more content…
The globe itself contains not only the basic structure of a globe but also small illustrations of significant events and their locations from the bible such as the Garden of Eden and Noah’s ark. It also contains locations significant to Raleigh’s life such as the Tower of London where he was imprisoned and wrote the book. Incorporated with the figures and the iconology of the second tier that depicts what is history, we can interpret Raleigh’s concept of what the purpose of history …show more content…
Though Raleigh’s work attempts at writing a universal history of the world, he must and does omit many events even in the European context let alone those that are not part of the European narrative. As Popper writes, Raleight “treat[s] the histories of less powerful peoples and kingdoms such as the Tyrians and Sicanians within the broader framework of the largest empires.” Furthermore, the book barely mentions places that are not part of the direct account such as America. Through out the book, he scatters America under the framework and comparison between the New World and that of their ‘known’ empiric history. In his book, Raleigh writes about the Great Flood; “Now howfoeuer all thefe flouds and many other, which h5.aue coeured at feuerall times feuerall Regions, not only in thefe parts of the world, but in America alfo, (as I haue learned of fome ancient Southfayers among them) may be afscribed to naturall caufes and accidents.” Yet his discussion of America’s flood is placed in context to prove the Flood in the event of Noah’s Ark. He subsequently absorbs the geographic history of America into that of the European’s rather than seeing it as an individual event despite that lack of dates when the floods happened; “in the time of Noah.” In other words, Raleigh’s book, though successful in its time, stands as a failed attempt at recording a universal history of the world and reflects how the Europeans despite their
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