Beyond the Spectacle: Indigenous Plymouth

Did you know that Indigenous North American presence in the English port city of Plymouth predates the Mayflower by at least 35 years? This walking tour guides visitors through 435 years of this history and amplifies these travellers’ stories.

Plymouth’s connections with Indigenous North American peoples are often remembered through the story of the Mayflower. But did you know that the links actually began at least 35 years before that? For over 435 years, Indigenous North Americans have been travelling to and through Plymouth, England, as captives, delegates, activists, soldiers, performers, and tourists. This trail amplifies their stories and commemorates these travellers’ contributions to the port city. It also records, for the first time, five centuries of Indigenous North American presence in Plymouth.

This walking tour was created by Beyond the Spectacle, an Arts & Humanities Research Council-funded project, in collaboration with Jo Loosemore (Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy exhibition curator at The Box, Plymouth). To learn more about the Beyond the Spectacle project, please visit https://research.kent.ac.uk/beyondthespectacle/.