State Papers Online - A Resource for Colonialism
State Papers Online, Part I contains the State Papers in the National Archives’series State Papers Domestic for the sixteenth century. Part II contains the State Papers in the series State Papers Scotland, Borders, Ireland, Foreign as well as the Registers of the Privy Council and selected State Papers in the British Library’s Cotton, Harley and Yelverton Collections. SPO Part II completes the sixteenth-century section of State Papers Online.
People from the earliest times had sought out other lands. By the fifteen century the Portuguese and Spanish had pioneered oceanic explorations that established links with Africa, Asia and the Americas in search for an alternative trade route to Asia, moved by the trade of gold, silver and spices. These explorations in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were soon followed by France, England and the Netherlands. With links being made between the Old and New Worlds the Columbian Exchange was established involving the transfer of plants, animals, foods, human populations (including slaves), communicable diseases, and culture between the Eastern and Western hemispheres, in one of the most significant global events concerning ecology, agriculture, and culture in history.
The foundation of the British Empire was laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496 following the successful overseas explorations of Portugal and Spain John Cabot was commissioned to lead a voyage to discover a route to Asia via the North Atlantic. Cabot sailed in 1497 and although he successfully landed on the coast of Newfoundland believing he had landed in Asia no colony was made and 5 years later when he attempted to revisit Newfoundland he ships were never seen again.
No other major further attempts were made to establish English colonies in the Americas until well into the reign of Elizabeth I. With relations between Spain and England disintegrating Elizabeth sanctioned the privateers John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake to engage in slave-raiding attacks against African Towns and Portuguese ships off the Coast of West Africa with the aim of breaking the Atlantic trade system. At the same time influential writers such as Richard Hakluyt and John Dee who first used the term ‘British Empire’ were pressing for the establishment of England’s own Empire to rival those of Spain and Portugal.
Though England was relatively late in engaging in the race to establish colonies colonial activities had occurred with the settlement in Ireland. The 16th Century plantations of Ireland were a precursor to the colonies established on the North Atlantic seaboard, and several people who were involved in the projects in Ireland became involved in the early colonisation of North America, particularly a group known as the ‘West Men’ – Humphrey Gilbert, Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake, John Hawkins, Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane.
Documents on these people and events can be found in State Papers Online.
Searching SPOI and SPO II
State Papers Online I and II with 329,527 Calendar entries, and 179,348 Manuscripts documents.
Note: all search examples below use the limiter to entries with links to manuscripts.
GENERAL
Search on Full text “Colony” = hits in 17 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Settlement” = hits in 294 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “New World” = hits in 14 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “piracy” = hits in 555 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “slaves” = hits in 123 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “voyage” = hits in 1749 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “expedition” = hits in 1966 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “ship” OR “ships” = hits in 11604 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “natives” = hits in 86 calendar entries/transcript entries
PEOPLE
Search on Full text “Cabot”= hits in 7 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Hugh Willoughby” = hits in 12 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text: “Humphrey Gilbert” = hits in 59 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text: “Raleigh” = hits in 351 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text: “Drake” = hits in 902 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text: “John Hawkins” = hits in 269 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text: “Richard Grenville” = hits in 7 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text: “Ralph Lane” = hits in 239 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text: “Anthony Jenkinson” = hits in 20 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text: “Richard Hakluyt” = hits in 9 calendar entries/transcript entries
PLACES
Search on Full text “Portugal”= hits in 1668 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Bra?il”= hits in 89 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Spain”= hits in 9007 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Valladolid” = hits in 198 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Lisbon” = hits in 777 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Netherlands”= hits in 236 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Antwerp”= hits in 4047calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “France”= hits in 14015 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Russia”= hits in 181 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Asia”= hits in 20 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “America*”= hits in 28 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “India”= hits in 224 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “West Indies” = hits in 84 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “China” = hits in 98 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Orient*”= hits in 20 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Afric*”= hits in 167 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Newfoundland” = hits in 98 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Virginia”= hits in 10 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Albion”= hits in 4 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “North West Passage”= hits in 9 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Atlantic”= hits in 1 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Guinea*” = hits in 76 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “New Spain”= hits in 23 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “New Granada”= hits in 2 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Peru”= hits in 46 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Hispaniola”= hits in 5 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Ireland” = hits in 31159 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Ireland” AND “plantations” = hits in 12 calendar entries/transcript entries
Search on Full text “Ulster” = hits in 1242 calendar entries/transcript entries
A selection of Volumes of interest to browse
State Papers Online, Part I
SP 3 State Papers Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII: Lisle Papers
SP 12 Vol. 53 Legal papers and appointments of JPs etc. John Hawkins's voyage to the West Indies: commission of inquiry into the attack by the Spanish at San Juan de Ulloa, Mexico. 1569 July
SP 12 Vol. 196 Miscellaneous. Trade and voyages of discovery: transcript of treaties and grants from the time of Offa, King of Mercia, to 1586, including those establishing commerce between Britain and Russia (calendared as 1586)
State Papers Online, Part II
Registers of the Acts of the Privy Council.
The Council's judicial and administrative functions covered colonial policy, commercial and maritime law, law and order in general, trade and industry and naval and military policy.
State Papers Foreign include:
State papers relating to Turkey, many from the Levant Company, an English chartered company formed in 1581, which financed diplomatic representation in the Levant until 1804.
Copies of treaties, articles of treaties, secret articles, draft treaties and other formal documents and papers connected with the various negotiations conducted by English ministers and envoys abroad.
Letter books and correspondence of embassies and legations abroad.
Portugal
SP Foreign: Portugal SP 89/1-3
Cotton Nero B I Portugal, 1559-1604
Spain
SP Foreign: Spain: SP 94/1-9
Cotton Vespasian C VII Spain, 1550-87, Vespasian C VIII Spain, 1588-1600, Vespasian C XIII Spain, 1500-1603
Russia
SP Foreign: Russia SP 91/1
Cotton Nero B VIII Russia and Persia
Ireland
SP Ireland: Maps: Eliz to James SP 64/1-2
SP Ireland: Eliz SP 63/1-215
SP Ireland: Maps: Eliz to James SP 64/1-2
SP Ireland: Folios, 1536-1603 SP 65/1-13
SP Ireland: Cases 1395-1765 - part only SP 66/A
Yelverton: 48015 Yelverton MS 16: Ireland, 1538-1600
48017 Yelverton MS 17: Administration of Ireland, 1323-late 16th cent.
France
SP Foreign: France SP 78/1-50
Galba E VI France, 1580-89
Cotton: Caligula E V France, 1550-1563, Caligula E VI France, 1567-1576, Caligula E VII France, 1577-1591, Caligula E VIII France, 1590s, Caligula E IX, Part 1 France, 1590s, Caligula E IX, Part 2 France, 1590s.
Netherlands
SP Foreign: Denmark SP 75/1-4
SP Foreign: Flanders SP 77/1-7
SP Foreign: Holland and Flanders SP 83/1-23
SP Foreign: Holland SP 84/1-64
Yelverton:Yelverton MS 14: Netherlands, 1585-1587 and Leicester's two expeditions
Cotton: Nero B IV Denmark, Elizabeth I
Treaties
SP Foreign: Treaty Papers SP 103/2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 18, 20, 31-36, 55, 64, 72
SP Foreign: Treaties SP 108/194, 291, 542
Yelverton: 48000 Yelverton MS 1: Treaties between England, Spain and Empire
48001 Yelverton MS 2: Treaties, etc., between England, Denmark and Portugal, 14th-16th cent.
48002 Yelverton MS 3: Treaties with France, 1478-1581
48003 Yelverton MS 4: Treaties, etc., concerning France, 1499-1559
48007 Yelverton MS 7, Part 2: Negotiations between England and Spain, 1556-1594
Otho E IX Naval, 1500-1600
Otho E X Mines
Cotton Manuscripts BL
Otho E VII Naval and Maritime
Otho E VIII Naval, 1500-1612
Otho E IX Naval, 1500-1600
Otho E X Mines
Vitellius C VII John Dee Papers
Harleian
296 Affairs of Spain, Italy, Germany, Denmark,
Yelverton
48009 Yelverton MS 9: Trade with Baltic and Northern Europe, 1377-1586
48010 Yelverton MS 10: Relations between England and the Hanseatic League reign John-1587
48011 Yelverton MS 11: Negotiations with Spain and Hanseatic League, 13th cent.-1597
48021A Yelverton MS 24: 'Description generalle de la coste maritime du royaume de France en la mer Occeane', 1627
48021B Yelverton MS 24 Part: Map of La Coruña, c. 1589
48126 Yelverton MS 141: Foreign affairs and trade, 1551-1602
48152 Yelverton MS 163: Foreign Policy; Denmark and France, 1525-1630; Cadiz
More Detailed Searches and Examples of Documents
Note: all search examples below use the limiter to entries with links to manuscripts.
Searching for ‘British Empire’
Search on Full text (All) “British Empire” = hits in 1 calendar entries/transcript entries.
1. Of famous and rich discoveries of the great…(see image below)
Calendar Volume Title: A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Cottonian Library deposited in the British Museum, 1744-1827. .
Entry Number: Vitellius, C. VII, 3 Document Ref.: Cotton Vitellius C/VII f.26 Date: [no date]
Illustration Type: Diagram Gale Document Number: MC4318817561
Vitellius, C. VII, 3. Of famous and rich discoveries of the great…
3. Of famous and rich discoveries of the great Asia's southerly and easterly coasts, of the Oriental and Scythian ocean, Caspian Sea, &c. of the reformation of the Asiatical topography, and of the Septentrional Islands, that they appertain to the crown of the British empire; by John Dee: written in the year 1577. Opus imper sectum et mutilum, quod sane doleudum est: incipit enim à capite sexto.
Portugal and Spain
Portugal was the leading country in the European exploration of the world in the 15th Century. The Treaty of Tordesillas split the New World into Spanish and Portuguese zones in 1494.
Portugal mainly colonised parts of South America but during the 16th Century the Portuguese progressed both eastwards and westwards into the Oceans. Towards Asia they made direct contact between Europeans and the peoples inhabitating present day countries such as Mozambique, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor, China and Japan. In the opposite direction the Portuguese colonized the huge territory that eventually became Brazil and the Spanish conquistadores established the vast Viceroyalties of New Spain, new Granada and Peru. In Asia the Portuguese met well populated and established societies with guarded trade routes so had little cultural impact. In the Western hemisphere the colonization involved large numbers of settlers and the exploitation of the relatively primitive native population.
Searching for ‘Brazil’
Search on Full text (All) “Bra?il”= hits in 89 calendar entries/transcript entries, sorted by relevance
5. Jehan du Moucheau to Lady Lisle. (see image below)
Calendar Volume Title: Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. Vol. 7:1534.
Reign: Henry VIII Entry Number: 1489 Document Ref.: SP 3/15 f.89 Date: 29 Nov 1534
Author: Jehan du Moucheau Recipient: Lady Lisle Place of Writing: London Language: French Copyright: Crown copyright Gale Document Number: MC4301501502
1489. 29 Nov 1534. R. O. Jehan du Moucheau to Lady Lisle
The Admiral has charged me to send his compliments to you and my lord. No man ever made such a high report to the King as he has of you. He is more bound to you and my lord than to any man. He has had some small animals brought to him from France, which came from Brazil (Brossil), and your friend Brian went to persuade him to give them to the Court; but he declared in my presence that no king or queen should be served before lady Lisle. The two small animals are named sagouins (marmosets); the large one is a quine (?), which is handsome and gentle. These animals only eat apples, small nuts and almonds, and they must not be given anything to drink but a little milk, warmed up. The large animal must be kept near the fire, and the little ones must be hung up at night near the chimney, in their boite (?) de nuit, but by day they should be taken out. I send you the said three animals by the bearer, a merchant of Rouen.
44. Mendoza to Walsingham (See image below)
Calendar Volume Title: Calendar of State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth, 1558-1589. Vol. 15:Jan 1581-Apr 1582.
Reign: Elizabeth I Entry Number: 501 Document Ref.: SP 94/1 Date: Jan. 8 1582
Author: Bernardino de Mendoza Recipient: Sir Francis Walsingham Place of Writing: London Language: French Copyright: Crown copyright Gale Document Number: MC4312300505
501. Jan. 8 1582.
Mendoza to Walsingham
I am informed that the ship of the pirate Roberts of Bristol has taken two Portuguese caravels coming from Brazil with sugar and other goods, one of which he has brought hither to a port beyond Bristol. Considering that these are the goods of the king my master's subjects, I beg you to signify it to the Lords of the Council, that they may order the goods to be stayed and detained in the hands of the Queen's officers, until the procurations of the owners for their recovery can arrive. You will do me singular pleasure herein, for I am much annoyed at having to be always troubling you about the robberies of pirates, and at seeing that in the four years I have been here, and in all the similar complaints I have made, it is never settled; on the contrary, they have acquired more, and made no restitution of the plundered goods.—London, 8 January 1582.