Elizabethan Explorers (OCR GCSE History B (Schools History Project)): Revision Note

Summary

One of the most important aspects of Elizabethan England is the increased interaction with foreign lands. English sailors travelled the globe in search of riches and lands they could claim on behalf of Queen Elizabeth. Adventurers and explorers became famous throughout England and the world as they sailed to places never before visited by people from England.

The explorers brought riches and new products back to England. They made the first steps in building the British Empire, which would later grow into the biggest Empire in the history of the world.

The motives of Elizabethan explorers

Trade

• England's conflict with Spain meant Elizabethan merchants lost income

  • The cloth trade with the Netherlands was a fundamental part of England's economy

• Merchants began to look for new, undisturbed places to trade

  • English merchants exploited the existing African slave trade

    • This laid the foundations of the Triangular Trade between England, Africa and the Americas

  • John Hawkins first brought enslaved Africans in 1562 to sell to Spanish colonists

    • He also brought back valuable spices like ginger and pepper, as well as sugar, to sell in England

Wealth

• Explorers reported back to England about the treasures available in the Americas, such as precious metals and crops

• The potential profits from these persuaded investors to fund voyages to the Americas

• Queen Elizabeth hired privateers like Sir Francis Drake to find and steal the wealth in Spain's American colonies

• Much of the interior of America remained unexplored

  • This provided an opportunity for explorers to discover further wealth in the Americas

Adventure

• Elizabethans had few opportunities to travel

• The accounts of explorers like Sir Walter Raleigh inspired young men to voyage to the Americas

  • They desired treasure, fame and wealth, but many did not find this

  • Transatlantic voyages were very dangerous

  • Many of these young explorers would die from preventable diseases, mutiny or attacks

New routes

• Explorers wanted to find a new passage to the Far East

  • They believed that a faster route existed around North America

  • This was called the North-West Passage

    • Although the passage was not discovered until 1845, it inspired Elizabethan explorers to study the coastline of America

Empire

• In the first half of the 1500s, Spain had built a huge Empire in Southern and Central America

• Gold and silver from these colonies made Spain wealthy

• Portugal had also claimed colonies in Brazil and in the East

• Elizabeth was advised to copy these European powers and send explorers into the world to claim lands for her and build a British Empire

Achievements of Elizabethan explorers

Sir Francis Drake

• Sir Francis Drake was a famous explorer in Elizabethan England

• Elizabeth I used Drake on secret privateering missions against the Spanish colonies in the Americas

• Between 1577 and 1580, Drake became the second person in history to circumnavigate the world

  • This was not the initial aim of Drake's voyage in 1577

  • Elizabeth had tasked Drake to capture Spanish treasure and disrupt Spain's monopoly of the Americas

Sir Walter Raleigh

• Sir Walter Raleigh was important to Queen Elizabeth

  • Raleigh was an explorer, author and historian

  • He was one of Elizabeth's favourite courtiers

• In 1580, Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe

• This success led Elizabeth's government to want to explore more of the Americas

  • Elizabeth gave Raleigh a grant to find a suitable colony for English settlers 

    • The grant did not cover all of the costs of travelling and settling a new colony

    • Raleigh needed to attract new investors to raise enough money for the voyage

• Elizabeth did not allow Raleigh to lead the voyage himself

• Raleigh was responsible for:

  • Investigating a suitable territory in North America to establish a colony

  • Using his fame and influence to persuade enough people to become colonists

  • Developing a plan to transport the colonists to the Americas

  • Choosing a governor of the new colony to maintain law and order

  • Ensuring that other explorers could duplicate his plan to establish more colonies

Ralph Fitch

• Ralph Fitch travelled east from England in 1583, through the Mediterranean to the Middle East

  • He then travelled overland through modern-day Syria and Iraq, and by sea along the Persian Gulf

• Fitch was arrested by the Portuguese and taken to their colony in Goa, India

  • Once released, Fitch travelled through India and visited the Mughal Emperor

  • He journeyed as far as the Himalayas before travelling on to Myanmar and down the Malay Peninsula

• Fitch was then arrested by the Portuguese once again, and they prevented him from sailing on to China

• He returned to England in 1591, eight years after setting sail

  • Tales of the spices and riches available to trade in India inspired other explorers and investors

James Lancaster

• James Lancaster was inspired by Fitch's tales of spices and riches available in the East

• Lancaster was chosen to lead the first expedition of the East India Company in 1601

  • Elizabeth had just given the company the monopoly to trade in the East

• Lancaster established a warehouse and trading post on the island of Java in modern-day Indonesia

  • Spices from across the East were purchased and stored here before being transported back to England

  • The foundations of the British Empire had been laid