Willoughbyland: England's Lost Colony

Willoughbyland: England's Lost Colony

by Matthew Parker (Author)

Synopsis

At the beginning of the 1650s, England was in ruins - wrecked by plague and civil war. Yet shimmering on the horizon was a vision of paradise: Willoughbyland. Ever since Sir Walter Ralegh set out in 1595 to claim the 'Beautiful Empire of Guiana' for the English crown - and to find the legendary city of El Dorado - adventurers had struggled against the fierce jungle of the Wild Coast in search of their fortune. Now, in the lush landscape between the great Amazon and Orinoco rivers, a group of Cavaliers, expelled by Oliver Cromwell, had established a new colony named after its founder - Sir Francis Willoughby. This is the untold story of Willoughbyland's spectacular rise and fall, set at a pivotal moment in British and world history. Here are the indigenous 'Indian kings' and their people, both friend and foe to the new arrivals. Here is Fifth Baron Willoughby himself, like his colony a mass of contradictory extremes. And here is Aphra Behn - later one of the most successful dramatists of the Restoration stage - sent to spy on a man with whom she will fall in love, transforming the fate of this entire enterprise. In the blissfully warm and fragrant air, these adventurers and exiles found a land of unimaginable freedom and natural beauty. Yet, as planters and traders followed explorers, and mercenaries and soldiers followed political dissidents, it would become a place of terror and cruelty, of sugar and slavery. As Matthew Parker reveals, the history of Willoughbyland is a microcosm of the history of empire, its heady attractions and fatal dangers.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Hutchinson
Published: 13 Aug 2015

ISBN 10: 0091954096
ISBN 13: 9780091954093
Book Overview: From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Goldeneye and The Sugar Barons comes Willoughbyland - the untold story of England's lost colony: a seventeenth-century tale of empire, El Dorado and violent rebellion, of spies, trickery and forbidden love.

Media Reviews
Parker has trawled the letters and literature, and travelled out to Suriname, and the result is a miniature masterpiece...this is a truly extraordinary tale and, in Parker's hands, it's beautifully told. With great wit and scholarship he reveals - just for a moment - a cruel and curious world, before it vanishes again beneath the trees. The Spectator An excellent account...Willoughbyland is popular history at its best. Literary Review A fascinating tale of courage and desperation, cruelty and betrayal, and it was all sparked by the search for the legendary city of gold, El Dorado. Event, Mail on Sunday The author has written several other highly enjoyable histories of the Caribbean, and he is on fine and colourful form here. Sunday Times A fascinating tale...Matthew Parker is an entertaining historian who has produced a lively account. Daily Express [T]he long-obscure but intriguing Willoughbyland can now console itself that it has, in this frequently fascinating book, a history it deserves. -- Catherine Nixey Times
Author Bio
MATTHEW PARKER's acclaimed books include Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born - Ian Fleming's Jamaica; Hell's Gorge; Monte Cassino and The Sugar Barons. Born in Central America in 1970, he spent part of his childhood in the West Indies. He has written for most British newspapers, as well as History Today, BBC History Magazine and the Literary Review. He lectures around the world and contributes to television and radio programmes in the UK and America. www.matthewparker.co.uk