91�ȱ�

Advancements in the practical skills of navigation allowed explorers to thrive during the Elizabethan era. The main benefit of exploration around this time was to open up trade routes with countries around the world. There were a number of famed explorers who led these voyages.

Francis Drake

Francis Drake was the most famous seaman of Elizabeth reign. His career has been interpreted in different ways, ranging from national hero to villain. He grew up as a Puritan who hated Catholics and he was very anti-Spanish. His first voyage in 1566 was as a trader of enslaved people. He was attacked in 1568 by the Spanish at San Juan de Ulua in Mexico, losing four ships and over 300 men. He sought to take revenge on the Spanish after this.

Notable expeditions

Drake was the first Englishman to sail around the world, circumnavigating the globe between 1577 and 1580. He went on to play a role in the Spanish Armada by attacking Cadiz in 1587 and delaying preparations. He was also vice-admiral during the Armada.

Impact

• Launched successful attacks on the Spanish empire, bringing back gold, silver and jewels, making a huge profit.
• Claimed new lands for England and made valuable trading contacts with the Spice Islands.
• Knighted by Elizabeth and made an admiral.

John Hawkins

He was a navigator and trader of enslaved people who was Sir Francis Drake’s cousin.

Notable expeditions

He made three voyages during the 1560s, capturing Africans people and selling them into slavery in Central America to Spanish settlers.

After this he returned to England and designed and built ships for the navy. Elizabeth appointed him as a vice-admiral fighting against the Spanish Armada.

Impact

• Developed a new type of fighting galleon which was faster, lighter and better able to withstand harsh weather conditions than ships in the Spanish fleet.
• His innovative designs were important in helping to lead England to victory.

Walter Raleigh

He was a famous sailor, explorer and courtier. The queen invested in his privateering expeditions against the Spanish. He wanted to establish colonies for Elizabeth in North America. The area was thought to have an inexhaustible supply of wine, oil, sugar and flax and would reduce England’s trading dependence upon Europe.

Notable expeditions

In 1584 he obtained a royal charter to establish a colony on Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina. He organised two expeditions to take settlers to the colony. The first group came home after a year; the second were left there but later disappeared. There is no conclusive proof of what happened to the colonists - perhaps they were forced to leave, ran away or lacked food. The reasons for their disappearance are unclear and Roanoke is sometimes given the name ‘The Lost Colony’.

Raleigh didn’t play a major part in the Armada campaign.

Impact

• He was part of the later on-going attacks against the Spanish in the 1590s and contributed to intellectual culture by writing poems.