Slitherine

I have not been doing too well (not surprising since there's no play manual - ) but I would like to have the option of "surrendering" and at that point seeing how I was doing, my growth on various criteria with graphs and looking at the whole map, CIV style. Did I just miss how I can do this? Is there any likelihood of an enhancement to support it?

An option like that does not exist. However, you can disband all your units and set your cities to self-destruct.

And if I did that would I get to see the map, historical progress graphs against the other players etc?

Yes, once you are wiped out, you get access to the stats and graphs and the next turn the game goes into observer mode. (As if you had started it as an observer in the advanced settings)
There you can even run it further and watch how the AIs duke it out against each other.

You must, however be wiped out before you lost in another way. When you lose via someone else winning science- or military-victory and are wiped out after you don't get the observer mode.

You can type /resign into the chat.