Giles Milton - Big Chief Elizabeth (2nd Hand Paperback)
Synopsis
In April 1586, Queen Elizabeth I acquired a new and exotic title. A tribe of Native Americans had made her their Weroanza - a word that meant "big chief".
The news was received with great joy, both by the Queen and her favourite, Sir Walter Raleigh. His first American expedition had brought back a captive, Manteo, who caused a sensation in Elizabethan London.
In 1587, Manteo was returned to his homeland as Lord and Governor, with more than one hundred English men, women, and children.
In 1590, a supply ship arrived at the colony to discover that the settlers had vanished.
For almost twenty years the fate of Raleigh's colonists was to remain a mystery. When a new wave of settlers sailed to America to found Jamestown, their efforts to locate the lost colony were frustrated by the mighty chieftain, Powhatan, (father of), who vowed to drive the English out of America.
Only when it was too late did the settlers discover the incredible news that Raleigh's colonists had survived in the forests for almost two decades before being slaughtered in cold blood by henchmen.
While Sir Walter Raleigh's "savage" had played a pivotal role in establishing the first English settlement in America, he had also unwittingly contributed to one of the earliest chapters in the decimation of the Native American population. The mystery of what happened to these colonists who seemed to vanish without a trace lies at the heart of this well-researched work of narrative history.
Details
- Format : Standard 2nd Hand Paperback
- Condition : Very Good
- Category : Non-Fiction - History & Futurology
- Published : 2000
- ISBN : 9780340748824
- SKU : B001082
- PPC : SP400gm
- Quantity Available : 1 only.
External Reviews
"It's almost impossible to summarise Milton's book, from which marvellous, vivid stories spill out like swagsack booty. If Patrick O'Brian had scripted Gladiator it would read something like this. Even he would have struggled to reproduce the mixture of heroism, violence and tragedy conjured here as Milton charts the tortured - and torturing - paths taken by the English in their quest to establish a permanent settlement in America." - The Guardian.
The Author
Giles Milton (born 15 January 1966) is a British writer who specialises in narrative history. His books have been published in over twenty languages worldwide. He has written nine works of non-fiction, a thriller, two comic novels and three books for young children.
