Speed, John

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John Speed, 1552?–1629, English historian and cartographer. He abandoned his trade as a tailor to engage in mapmaking. Many of his maps of parts of England and Wales were published in The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain (1611). His major work, The History of Great Britain, and his Genealogies Recorded in Sacred Scripture were published c.1611; they are based largely on earlier work.

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