HIST 298: Early Modern Empires

Pre-approved Sources

• Pierre-François-Xavier de Charlevoix, Journal of a Voyage to North-America (1761). [French empire]
• Jean-Baptiste Labat, Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amerique (1724). [French empire]
• John Smith, A Description of New England (1616). [British empire]
• Henry Blount, A Voyage into the Levant (1638). [British empire]
• Olaudah Equiano, The Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789). [British empire]
• Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, The First New Chronicle and Good Government (1615/2009). [Spanish empire]
• Duarte Lopes, Filippo Pigafetta, and Thomas Fowell Buxton, A Report of the Kingdom of Congo and fo the Surrounding Countries (1969). [Portuguese empire]
• Çelebi Evilya, Narratives of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa (1834-50; 2 vols). [Ottoman empire]

Find other Primary Sources

Interested in finding a travel narrative about a specific location published during the early modern period? Try one of these methods:

By keyword:

• Search the catalogue by combining the following keywords: (1) the location or empire you are interested in, (2) terms indicating travel writing, and (3) a term indicating the time period if necessary. Examples:
• China AND ("travel writing" OR "travel narrative*) AND "early modern"
• Mughal AND ("travel writing" OR travel narrative*)
• Note that: Not all of the results will be primary sources! Be sure to critically assess if a result is a primary source.

By subject:

• Subject headings use the phrase "description and travel" to indicate travel narratives and travel books. Try searching for a travel narrative by combining the location you are interested in with the phrase "description and travel" and searching only in the subject field using su: Examples:
• su: Turkey "description and travel"
• su: China "description and travel"
• Further tip: most results will not be focused on the early modern period! Consider filtering by publication year, or sorting results from oldest to newest (both features available on the lefthand side of the catalogue).

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