| dc.description.abstract | This thesis is a historiographical analysis of the colonial history of Virginia. The approach is centered around the goal of finding how the colonial era have been portrayed in four historical works. These works emphasise the whole Virginia history from 1607 to the year they were published. They are, in the order they are analysed: Virginia: The New Dominion, A History From 1607 to the Present published in 1971 by Virginius Dabney, Virginia: A Bicentennial History published in 1977 by Louis D. Rubin Jr, Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: A History of Virginia, 1607 – 2007 published in 2007 by Ronald L. Heinemann, John G. Kolp, Anthony S. Parent Jr. and William G. Shade, and Cradle of America: Four Centuries of Virginia History published in 2007 by Peter Wallenstein. Based on finding how these are portrayed the main questions are which events that are highlighted and which that are excluded, what the histories are based upon and from which point of view the history is being told. Concerning the purpose and the language that is emphasised will portray what the stories truly are about. Comparing the histories will show either if they are fundamentally different or if there are four varieties of one story. This will also emphasise what historiographical traditions the histories can be a part of. In this analysis it is apparent that Dabney (1971) Rubin (1977) and Parent et al. (2007) are three varieties of one story. They emphasise the development of the Virginia colony and the English colonists have the leading role. The last book, Wallenstein (2007) do not share that view because it is structured entirely different. Concerning the historiographical schools, the Progressive school of approach and the traditional view is apparent in each work. Also “Atlantic History” is apparent in Parent et al. (2007). | en_US |
