Baptista Boazio’s Engravings Of Sir Francis Drake’s Great Voyage: English Law And Conquest In The Atlantic World
Date
2016-05
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
What can a map tell us? Can it merely be used to tell directions or supply
geographical information about a locality? Or could it also explain legal tenets, or
showcase military strategy? My Senior Thesis aims to uncover Sir Francis Drake’s
achievements in his Atlantic raids as depicted in Baptista Boazio’s map engravings of
the voyage. Through analysis of the maps I uncover Boazio’s attempt to illustrate
English military and legal principles in the New World. Baptista Boazio, an elusive
cartographer of the sixteenth century, challenges the traditional cartographic
conventions by demonstrating not only geography and place, but also the ideology of a
budding empire and the legacy of an English hero. Boazio’s engravings of the voyage
to the West Indies represent English political power, military strategy, and legal
authority.
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Keywords
english law, atlantic, art history