Exploring peripheries through similarities and differences . Comparisons between Poland-Lithuania, Muscovy and Turkey in English chorographic publications of the late 16th and the 17th century

Exploring peripheries through similarities and differences. Comparisons between Poland-Lithuania, Muscovy and Turkey in English chorographic publications of the late 16th and the 17th century The paper deals with the way English geographical and historical texts may have influenced the perception of three eastern states with which England maintained relations in the late 16th and early 17th centuries: Poland-Lithuania, Muscovy and Turkey. All three — irrespective of their geographical distance and peripheral locations — became important for England in the late 16th century because of their economic and political potential. This resulted in a surge of interest in Poland, Turkey and Russia, and provided a significantly broader context in which they were presented in the emerging English public sphere. The focus of the article is on answering the questions whether the fundamental political and confessional differences between the three states had a significant impact on the way they were presented by English authors of chorographic publications, how peripheral they were considered to be — in comparison to other political entities on the continent — and whether there the differences and the similarities discussed in these texts were the good indication of their specificity