Michael Drayton’s Robin Hood carries arrows pieced from “birch and brazil” and a bow of Spanish yew. These weapons connect England’s imagined medieval past to early modern global trade. Tracing brazilwood from Portuguese America to English workshops reveals the colonial labour and Atlantic commerce concealed behind the outlaw’s familiar arms.
“The case for European colonialism is simple. It is the case for humanity itself, for the ways that human beings have always acted rationally to better their situations in life and those of their children … It is the case for peace, progress, and running water. It is the case for living in a place where life is better and escaping from a place where life is worse.”