INTRODUCTION
Thomas Harriot attended St. Mary's Hall, which later became Oriel College, Oxford University, receiving his BA in 1580. In 1585, at the age of 25, he sailed to the Pamlico Sound area of what is now North Carolina as part of Sir Walter Raleigh's second expedition to Virginia, commanded by Sir Richard Grenville. Harriot served as the expedition's cartographer, historian and surveyor. During the year he spent on Roanoke Island, Harriot wrote his Chronicle or Discourse of Virginia, unfortunately lost. The expedition returned to England in 1586. Two years later he published an abstract of his extensive Chronicle as A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. The first book in English about the New World, it is a survey of the natural resources and native inhabitants of the area.
Interest in the pioneering contributions of Thomas Harriot is growing. Oriel College, Oxford University, has hosted a Harriot Lecture series since 1990. St. Mary's Hall, Harriot's alma mater, was absorbed into Oriel College centures ago in a reorganization at Oxford. The Harriot Lecture series is funded by Lord Egremont, a direct descendent of the Earl of Northumberland, benefactor of Thomas Harriot. The Thomas Harriot lecture has experienced a sizable increase in attendance in recent years.
The lecture organizers, known at Oxford as the "Harrioteers," have indicated a strong interest in helping Harriot College identify capable speakers who could deliver lectures of high quality and broad interest at ECU about Thomas Harriot's life, work, and impact. Such a lecture series will bring recognition to Harriot College and to a major pioneer in Eastern North Carolina's history. The lecture series will also help to illuminate the origins of modern science for the faculty and students of Harriot College.
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