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LONDON, March 8 (UPI) -- J.K. Rowling has released online the first essay in her four-part series History of Magic in North America. The original piece of writing was posted Tuesday on Pottermore.com. It chronicles the history of magic in the United States and Canada from the 14th to the 17th centuries.
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"Though European explorers called it 'the New World' when they first reached the continent, wizards had known about America long before Muggles," the piece begins. "Various modes of magical travel -- brooms and Apparition among them -- not to mention visions and premonitions, meant that even far-flung wizarding communities were in contact with each other from the Middle Ages onwards."
Warner Bros. said the essays are intended to "provide context and backstory for the feature film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," which is set for release Nov. 18.
The movie is a prequel to the eight hit Harry Potter fantasy films, which were based on Rowling's bestselling books.
Rowling makes her screenwriting debut with the script for Beasts, starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Ron Perlman, Carmen Ejogo, Jenn Murray, Faith Wood-Blagrove and Colin Farrell.
