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This was the time of the great explorers. Columbus had accidentally discovered the continent of America in 1492 and now
countries like England, France, Spain and Portugal were cashing in on the treasure they could find there but sadly, with very little thought for the people who
had lived there for thousands of years.
The two most famous English explorers were Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh. Both made a lot of money out of their voyages and also provided a good
income for Elizabeth.
Drake first sailed to America as captain of one of a fleet of ships
commanded by his cousin John Hawkins. It was a slaving voyage. This is not something of which we should be very proud as a country but in those days it seemed
quite normal.
Ships would leave England loaded with gifts for African tribal leaders. These gifts might just be pieces of coloured glass, jewellery or even pots
and pans. In return the African leaders would provide the English captains with slaves to take across to America to work, usually on the cotton plantations. The
slaves would be men, women and children, and they would travel in the hold, or bottom, of the ship, often all chained up.
If the ship sank they had no chance of escape. The conditions were disgusting. On arrival in the Americas, if they made it, the slaves would be sold
to the owners of the cotton fields or sugar plantations. Then the English ships would be loaded with tobacco, sugar, cotton or potatoes and sail back to England.
It made the ship owners very wealthy.
After this, Drake mainly sailed against the Spaniards, who had already begun to find treasure in South America. He would raid the settlements or attack
the ships when they were on their way back to Spain. In 1577, (oh so this is how this fits in) Elizabeth secretly asked Drake to set off on an expedition and attack
the Spanish colonies on the Pacific coast of America. To do this he had to follow a great Spanish explorer and sail round the tip of South America. This place was
called Cape Horn and the little stretch of water you had to sail through was known as the Straits of Magellan after Ferdinand Magellan the first man to sail through
them. Magellan had set out in 1519 to sail around the world and though one ship from his fleet did do that, Magellan didn’t as he was killed when his boat stopped
off in the Philippines. Drake became the first Englishman to sail round Cape Horn.
He then travelled up the west coast of South America, attacking Spanish ports. He kept going north hoping to find another way
to get back to England but he didn’t and so he sailed across the Pacific Ocean, stopping at some of the islands in the Indian Ocean, round the Cape of Good Hope
off the coast of South Africa and arrived back in England in September 1580. He had a fantastic cargo of exotic spices, Spanish treasure and the honour of being
the first Englishman to sail around the world, although I guess his crew were equally first too. Seven months later, Elizabeth knighted him aboard the Golden Hind,
which was the ship Drake had sailed in although they changed its name halfway round as it set off as the Pelican. The King of Spain was not as pleased as Elizabeth.
In 1585, Drake sailed to the West Indies and up the coast of Florida where he attacked more Spanish cities. On the way back he picked up the surviving
settlers who had been left on Roanoke Island by Sir Walter Raleigh, which leads us rather conveniently to tell you something about him in the following year.
Forward to 1578AD
