History 231 Reading Guide
English Heritage: Society, economy, and politics in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
- Roger Howell, “Introduction,” in Roger Howell, ed., Maine in the Age of Discovery: Christopher Levett’s Voyage, 1623-24 (Maine Historical Society, 1988), 7-31. e-reserve
Document:
- Christopher Levett, “A Voyage to New England, begun in 1623 and ended in 1624” (1624), reprinted in Roger Howell, ed., Maine in the Age of Discovery: Christopher Levett’s Voyage, 1623-24 (Maine Historical Society, 1988), 33-68. e-reserve
- Guidelines for writing a critical analysis of a primary document
- History 231 Primary Document Collections
- Bowdoin College, Academic Honesty and Plagiarism
- Bowdoin Library, Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide. Use the N (footnotes, endnotes) and B (bibliography) styles.
Map of Christopher Levett's travels in Maine, 1623
Note: Read Levett’s “observations” as a primary document: an explorer’s account of his voyage to the Maine coast in 1623-1624.
- What underlying interests and concerns emerge in his description and account of the land and its inhabitants?
- How did he view the “country,” which was indeed occupied by Native Americans, but which appeared “unimproved” according to European standards? How did he judge and value its potential?
- What did he address and emphasize in his account of his encounters with various “sagamores” along the coast of Maine?
- What concerns about the process of settlement and cultivation did he address in his report? Why?
- What model for colonization of the New World did he propose? What role in colonization did Levett envision and propose for the Crown and the Council of New England? What were his goals with both of these plans?