Historye of the Bermudaes or Summer Islands

The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. This 1882 volume contains a history of the early governors of Bermuda. The work is anonymous, although the editor suggests that the author might be Captain John Smith, governor of Virginia. First settled in 1612, Bermuda became an important plantation colony after the failure of the first two English colonies in Virginia. This edition provides a vivid description of the social conditions and organisation on Bermuda from the founding of the colony.