ntury had been a period of vigorous internal growth, centralization, and consolidation, during which monarchs brought the Church under state control and secured the hinterlands in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The country experienced impressive economic and maritime development, building an essential foundation for overseas empire. The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 signaled England's readiness to take its place in the New World.
By the time England and France renewed their New World activities, the nature of exploration had changed greatly. One of the most obvious differences was the withdrawal of the crowns of both nations from direct participation. Far too often these New World expeditions had proved unprofitable, and monarchs chose to grant private individuals or organizations permission to carry out the various projects in return for a portion of the anticipated profits. More important was a growing emphasis on colonization. Earlier explorers, interested in the Orient, had merely searched for passages through or around the New World, while others hoped to establish trading bases with the North American natives. But no passages were found, and the Indians proved to be indifferent trading partners. It was obvious that a different approach was necessary; colonization would provide a settled population from which the home country could extract New World wealth.
Several examples existed that France and England found encouraging. The Spanish had developed a spectacularly successful colonial system, and the Portuguese were beginning to reap the rewards of Brazilian activity. English colonizing in northern Ireland had not only enriched the colonizers but was desirable for nationalistic reasons: it supplied England with cheap raw materials, provided markets for manufactured goods, offered convenient places to send idle populations, and helped bolster maritime and naval strength. Enthusiasts argued these precedents in both England and France during the late 1500s.
Explorers and Colonizers, 1579--1607
The second wave of Maine explorers thus arrived with radically different dreams and objectives. For the English, the new phase of exploration and colonial endeavor began when Sir Humphrey Gilbert sent Simon Ferdinando and John Walker to the Maine coast in 1579 and 1580 respectively. In search of a likely place to locate a New World colony, the explorers were drawn to the Penobscot region, for it was there they hoped to find Norumbega, a region and a city of fabled productivity, wealth, and splendor.
The myth of Norumbega blossomed during the mid-sixteenth century. The term first appeared as "Oranbega" on Girolamo da Verrazano's 1529 map of his brother's 1524 voyage. Three decades later, the region had acquired a reputation as a northern land of milk and honey, owing in large part to European publicists who obtained sketchy, second-hand information about the region and imaginatively embellished it. One of them, Pierre Crignon, stated that "the land overflows with every kind of fruit, there grow the wholesome orange and the almond, and many sorts of sweet-smelling trees." André Thevet, who had spoken with Jacques Cartier about his experiences in the St. Lawrence region, was slightly more accurate, but he too provided a glowing portrayal of Norumbega.
In the late 1550s, an English sailor named David Ingram grasped the opportunity to improve a good story. Ingram and two companions had been set ashore on the Gulf coast of Florida in October 1557. According to Ingram, they proceeded overland on Indian trails all the way to Maine. After a couple of years of wandering, Ingram turned up at the mouth of the St. John River and caught a French ship back to England. There he began recounting his adventures in the New World. Norumbega, he insisted, was the Cibola of the north. In "a town half a mile long" with "many streets far broader than any street in London," the men wore "hoopes" of gold and silver on their arms and legs. Their ornaments were "garnished with pearls, divers of them as big as one's thumb." Women were adorned in gold p