Welcome to the History of English podcast, a podcast about the history of the English language.

This is episode 182, World of Confusion.

This time, as we work our way through the story of English, we're

going to continue to look at events in the early 1600s. It was a time when English was starting

to spread around the world, as speakers searched for new trading partners and new places to settle.

And through that process, English started to become an international

language. But as English speakers encountered people and languages from faraway places, they

sometimes became confused. And that confusion and uncertainty shaped the English language

during this period, and it still shapes the language

to this day.

So we'll look at how confusion played a role in the development of English in the early modern

period.

But before we begin, let me remind you that the website for the podcast is history of Englishpodcast.com,

and you can sign up to support the podcast and get bonus episodes at patreon.com

slash history of English.

Now last time, we looked at the publication of the King James Bible in 1611, and we examined

how that translation impacted the English language.

We also looked at the discovery of the telescope and the beginning of the scientific revolution.

While at the same time that those events were taking place in Europe,

there were several notable developments in North America.

So this time we're going to backtrack and look at those events,

and then we're going to briefly turn our attention to England, and finally we're going to skip over to India to look

...