Patagonia as seen by Francis Drake's biographer (1628)
John Drake (c1562-?) was cousin to the renowned English navigator Francis Drake, serving as his personal servant during the second voyage of world circumnavigation (1577-1580). On a subsequent expedition, in 1584, John Drake was captured by native Americans in the River Plate estuary, later being taken prisoner by the Spanish at Buenos Aires, and questioned at Santa Fe. Three years later (1587) he was examined by the Inquisition in Lima: this section of his evidence describes that earlier visit to Patagonia and the crossing of the Magellan Strait.
Sources:
1. The original manuscript is held by the Archivo General de Indias; images are available at Portal de Archivos Españoles, under reference PATRONATO,266,R.54.
2. Images of the 1584 manuscript are available at PATRONATO,266,R.49.
3. The map above is a detail from the book The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, published 1628; image available at Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Sir Francis Drake: A Pictorial Biography by Hans P. Kraus.
Sources:
1. The original manuscript is held by the Archivo General de Indias; images are available at Portal de Archivos Españoles, under reference PATRONATO,266,R.54.
2. Images of the 1584 manuscript are available at PATRONATO,266,R.49.
3. The map above is a detail from the book The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, published 1628; image available at Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Sir Francis Drake: A Pictorial Biography by Hans P. Kraus.
This transcription respects the original wording and punctuation;
a separate version is provided in modern Spanish.