Divers Voyages Touching the Discouerie of America

An Oxford-educated geographer, Richard Hakluyt (1553–1616) was convinced that the surest way to increase the power and wealth of England lay in overseas trade and in the establishment of settlements in America. He spent much of his life seeking out and printing in English those descriptions of voyages and travel narratives that might be of use.

As illustrations, Hakluyt provided two maps. The first is the world map made secretly in Spain in 1527 by Robert Thorne. It shows the Spice Islands in the control of Spain and improves the shape of South America from its depiction in other world maps of the 1520s. The second map is by Michael Lok and is a sectional projection of 160 degrees at the Tropic of Cancer, extending from California in the west to North Africa in the east. It is one of the very first maps to be centered on North America. 

Divers Voyages Touching the Discouerie of America was first published in London in 1582.