A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia

Thomas Hariot was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. After studying at Oxford he traveled to America for Sir Walter Raleigh. A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia was written around 1587. This early account of the Native Americans in the area had a huge influence on later explorers and colonists. . Hariot wrote: "Whereby it may be hoped, if means of good government be used, that they may in short time be brought to civility and the embracing of true religion." His views in this account concerning the ability of Native Americans to learn and work were later ignored in favor of the sections on minerals and natural resources.