The Doctrine of Discovery in English Colonialism

In the sixteenth century, English exploration and colonization of America was motivated by several factors, including mercantilism, scientific exploration, and evangelism. These factors would equal financial gain for England with the support of trading companies such as The Company of Merchants Adventures, Muscovy Company, the East India Company, and the English Crown. During these early days of exploration, discourses were written to persuade England and her people to embrace the endeavors mentioned above and justify the cost of colonization. Religion and the “enlargement of the Gospel of Christ” were popular arguments used to legitimize voyages and gain acceptance for colonialism in America (Hakluyt 1). However, the role religion played in these arguments were secondary to the primary goal of financial gain. Alexander Haskell argues that the part of the early explorer’s persona enjoyed “God’s blessing” (Haskell 107). The early texts speak to mercantilism at greater length and more significant importance than real religious zeal. The primary function of religion in English exploration was to justify how the Others were viewed and treated and how religion allowed England to subjugate Indigenous peoples in the New World. These views, along with the legally held Doctrine of Discovery, encouraged England to possess what they believed was theirs to claim. England’s religion granted them what they believed to be a God-given right to do whatever was necessary to this end.

Few writers encapsulates England’s driving purpose for voyage and the exploration of trade routes to new worlds in the sixteenth century better than Richard Hakluyt. His discourse sets the tone and genre of writing that will be used for many years to come when attempting to persuade the Crown, and privateers, to set course for rich lands full of gold, silver, and commodities. He separates his argument into four central themes, which include: religious piety, a desire to see England beat Spain in the new world, the collection and trade of commodities for financial gain, and the advancement of the English Crown and her military forces in world affairs (Hakluyt 1-6). We will focus on Hakluyt’s religious rhetoric along with other early explorers and privateers in efforts to understand the outcome concerning subjugation of Indigenous people.

Sixteenth-century England was continuing a more than 1000-year tradition of religious rhetoric, giving credence to the treatment of the Others and subjugation of Indigenous people occupying English desired lands. George Best, in his discourse of Frobisher’s voyages, writes that the gospel should be preached in an effort to convert the “infidels” to Christianity (Best 20). Early texts show that explorers and trade companies used religious rhetoric in their writing to set their voyages in motion under of banner of religious piety. When describing the animals of the new world, the author of Sir Humphrey Gilbert’s voyage wrote, “but these mentioned may induce us to glorify the magnificent God, who hath superabundantly replenished the earth with creatures serving for the use of man” (Hakluyt 252). In yet another voyage in 1577 the author writes that “it would please His divine majesty, long to continue our Queen, for whom he, and all the rest of our company in this order took possession of the country…” (Hakluyt 201). Five hundred years before, in the voyage of Ingulphus Abbot of Croyland to Jerusalem, the author recounted how “thievish Arabians” and Egyptians destroyed sacred churches and monuments, bringing about “sad tears” and “bleeding affections…” (Hakluyt 44). This kind of writing would become useful in defining and separating the infidels from Christians. The founding father of Britain and King of England, Alfred the Great, built his reputation upon religious piety in an effort to be the “ideal” Christian ruler who would defeat the Vikings and unite England (Yorke 9). England was built upon Christian virtues. Nevertheless, scholars can trace back to the fifth century the early workings of the Roman Catholic church and the “idea of a worldwide papal jurisdiction” with the expressed purpose of handing Christian empires a moral responsibility to defeat evil and take the spoils of war for the sake of the church and God (Miller 9).

The role of religious rhetoric served a greater purpose that transcended evangelism. We need to understand what its benefit was for England, and more importantly, how the Others were affected by its outcome. This genre was seemingly an authentic religious zeal meant to spread the gospel and convert barbarians and sinners to Christ. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in death, became the shining example of Christian virtue and God-like status (Hakluyt 257). However, it was all a means to a different end. Gilbert’s faith was still overshadowed by a more in-depth dialogue meant to increase the English Crown’s place in world affairs through trade and acquisition of resources and wealth. When we study the early church and the Church of England, a pattern begins to emerge that portrays a belief system meant to prosper its pious members by taking from others. This intensifies when the Church of England separates from the Catholic church and turns to the newly reformed Doctrine pioneered by Luther and Calvin. As argued by D.G. Hart, John Calvin was not known for his humanitarianism, but instead for “thundering against human depravity and promoting sovereignty such that only a predestined few will escape eternal damnation” (Hart xi). This idea of predestination promoted by Calvin and other early founders during the reformation instilled a since of prejudice between God’s chosen elect and every other human. By 1549 the Church of England adopted the Book of Common Prayer and was fully converted to Protestantism (Hart 307). While this was not the beginning of what would come to be known as the Doctrine of Discovery, it was undoubtedly the next logical step in its evolution in creating a legal precedence of England’s right to colonize.

With England’s centuries of religious discourse and rhetoric documented and defined and the church’s backing, the Crown only needed to make the possession of foreign lands a legal matter. In doing so, any opposing arguments against the Crown for harsh or unfair treatment of the Others would be a matter of law. Robert Miller argues that this legal Doctrine was created in the fifteenth century in order to “justify” claims and sovereignty over Indigenous inhabitants supported by “religious and ethnocentric ideas of European superiority over other cultures, religions, and races of the world (Miller 1). Religion and law were working in one accord. In 1414, the Council of Constance termed this the Christian Doctrine of Discovery (Miller 9). In 1493 England officially adopted this legal Doctrine, allowing them to lay claim to any new land discovered during voyages and exploration. The effects on Indigenous people were devastating. The Doctrine gave the legal title of Indian land, its resources and commodities, and dominion to the Crown (Miller 26).

The last step to England’s claim to land was what Patricia Seed terms the Ceremonies of Possession. She argues that using the rights of “discovery” was not enough to prove legal possession. Instead, in the sixteenth century, “Englishmen usually constructed their right to occupy the New World on far more historically and culturally familiar grounds: building houses and fences and planting gardens” (Seed 18). She writes that it was the “presence and habitation” of particular objects that gave England a legal right (Seed 19). The palisade was perhaps the best-known example of possession by England. The large wooden fence was meant to keep the English safe and others out, as evidenced by John Fox in 1577 (Hakluyt 173). Each of these aspects of legal possession and discovery werw illustrated in Thomas Candish’s voyage. In 1586, after discovering “a marvelous and fair valley,” houses and a church was constructed along with a garden for growing “pompions and melons” along with a frame to “hang two bells wherewith they ring to mass” and a cross for worship (Hakluyt 313).

Once England had legal precedence over anyone standing between their captains and their bounty, it was only a matter of enforcement of the Doctrine to become a conquering empire in the New World. Sir Francis Drake embodies the very Doctrine of Discovery and attitude of an Englishman. Drake looked upon any ship, land, or person as a matter of divine discovery. In his voyage of 1577, Drake would overtake Spanish ships to take gold, silver, silk, or anything else he deemed of value (Hakluyt 187). He ransacked towns and pillaged as he saw fit, all the while taking time to pray and read scripture (Hakluyt 189-191). However, John Hawkins’ 1564 voyage to Guinea and the Indies best exemplifies England’s ability to subjugate without conviction. On his ship named Jesus, he abducted dozens of “negros” on multiple occasions, all the while using his military force to fight any Indigenous inhabitants or competing empires that might get in his way (Hakluyt 109-113). Yet, towards the end of his voyage, and with “contrary winds” God in all “of his goodness better provided for” the voyage and spared the ship (Hakluyt 121).

While the religious piety and religious rhetoric played an essential role in sixteenth-century English colonialism, it was more so used to justify the treatment of Indigenous people in the New World. The Doctrine of Discovery and the Ceremonies of Possession were enacted to carry out the true purpose of the English empire’s desire to conquer new lands for financial gain and prominence in world affairs. It is crucial to use England and her voyages as a continued reminder of how religion can be manipulated for worldly gain. While this was a tactic used in literature in early American history, it still exists today in multiple cultures and modern-day empires.

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