Giles Milton

In 1586 Elizabeth I was named Weroanoza, Big Chief, by a tribe of North American Indians. This delighted Walter Raleigh, who established a colony in the New World, thus creating a riddle that took many years to solve.

This is the extraordinary story of nutmeg, the spice trade, a tiny island called Run, an heroic English adventurer and England's acquisition of the island of Manhattan.

In 1322 Sir John Mandeville left England for a pilgrimage lasting 34 years. On his return he claimed he had circumnavigated the world. In the 19th century sceptics questioned his voyage. Here the author considers the riddles of Sir John's journey.

In 1716 a Cornish cabin boy is captured by Barbary corsairs, and taken in chains to the slave markets of Algiers. This book looks at Thomas Pellow's life and at the lives of thousands of Europeans captured and sold by fanatical Islamic slave traders.