Thomas Hariot

Portrait of Thomas Hariot, 1602.

Unknown

Quick Facts

Place of Birth:

Oxford, England

Date of Birth:

1560

Place of Death:

London, England

Date of Death:

July 2, 1621

Known as an astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer and linguist, Thomas Hariot was an important member of the 1585 voyage to Roanoke Island.  

Born in 1560 what is known of Hariot’s history prior to 1577 is very limited. Documents from the time indicate his father was a commoner and Hariot was raised in Oxfordshire. In 1580, he graduated from Oxford University with a bachelor’s degree. The fields of mathematics and science were beginning to gain traction as useful subjects of study, which greatly benefited Hariot. After graduation, he moved to London to pursue work applying mathematics and astronomy to navigation. This brought Hariot to the attention of Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1583, Raleigh employed Hariot to work on solving navigational problems. Hariot taught himself to navigate using the tools and charts available and shared these techniques with others. 

 In 1584, a voyage to the New World brought two Native men, Manteo and Wanchese, to England’s shore. Hariot worked extensively with these men to develop a phonetic alphabet of the Algonquian language. This work made Hariot an expert on the language, which led to him becoming a member of Raleigh’s second expedition to the New World. Hariot arrived in Virginia in June of 1585. He was one of the few men of the voyage who was not a soldier or a sailor.  

While the stay on Roanoke in 1585-86 was ultimately unsuccessful, Hariot had a very productive voyage. He was able to draft extensive maps with the assistance of artist John White. Not only did Hariot assess the area’s natural resources for food commodities and building materials for the colonists, but he also documented highly detailed descriptions of the Carolina Algonquians’ social structure, customs, clothing, crafts, agricultural practices, and religious beliefs. In 1588, a few years after his return to England, Hariot published A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. This book contained a great deal of information about the New World and was quickly republished in three languages besides English and was distributed throughout Europe. While in some respects the report painted too positive a picture of England’s attempt to colonize the New World, it nonetheless proved a valuable resource for researching and studying the Native peoples and the surrounding land. 

 In 1595, Hariot received land in Brampton from Henry Percy, an English nobleman, to continue his scientific and mathematical work. Hariot was briefly placed in prison because of his connection to Percy (who was linked to an attempt on the life of King James I) but was released after it was determined that he was not a threat. Hariot spent much of his later life studying astronomy. He wrote notes about Halley’s Comet in 1607 that were later used to help calculate its orbit. In 1609, Hariot sketched the moon using his own telescope and eventually produced the first map of the moon in 1611. He also observed sunspots. Hariot was present at the 1618 execution of Sir Walter Raleigh.  

Hariot, a tobacco smoker (a habit acquired in Virgina) died a few years later in London on July 2, 1621, of cancer, likely a result of his smoking.