Guiana

The tragedy of Sir Walter Ralegh’s impossible quest

16 May 2026 9:00 am

After the accession of James I, the life of the ‘ultimate Renaissance man’ depended entirely on his discovery of a mythical ‘city of gold’

‘The Discovery of the Large, Rich, Beautiful Empire called Guiana’, from ‘Newe Weld un Americanische Historien’, by Johann Ludwig Gottfried, 1631

Sugar and spies

8 August 2015 9:00 am

John Gimlette on the strange and superbly told story of Willoughbyland, England’s ‘lost’ colony