English Sailors Flashcards
All 19 cards in this deck
Give one reason Drake set out on his voyage of 1577–80.
To raid Spanish ships and settlements for gold and silver, with Elizabeth's secret backing.
Why was Drake's circumnavigation of the globe (completed 1580) significant?
He was the first Englishman to sail around the world, which encouraged others to explore and claim land for England.
What was Sir Walter Raleigh's role in the colonisation of Virginia?
He was granted a royal charter by Elizabeth in 1584 and organised and financed the expeditions that founded the Roanoke colony in 1585.
Give one reason the English attempted to colonise Virginia.
To provide a base from which English ships could attack Spanish treasure fleets in the Atlantic.
Give one reason Raleigh's first colony in Virginia failed.
The colonists fell into conflict with the Algonquian people, from whom they constantly demanded food and supplies.
How did John Hawkins's voyages worsen commercial relations with Spain?
He traded illegally with Spain's New World colonies, threatening Spanish power there, and Elizabeth did nothing to stop him.
What was a privateer in Elizabethan England?
A sailor licensed by the crown to attack and rob foreign ships; Drake's raids on Spanish treasure ships in the Caribbean stole vast amounts of treasure and angered Spain.
Who was John Hawkins?
An English sailor and naval commander who made voyages from the 1560s carrying enslaved Africans to trade in Spain's New World colonies.
Who was Sir Francis Drake?
An English sailor and privateer who raided Spanish ships and ports and completed the circumnavigation of the globe in 1577–80.
What happened at San Juan de Ulúa in 1568?
A Spanish fleet attacked Hawkins's and Drake's ships in a Mexican port; most were destroyed, which made both men lasting enemies of Spain.
In which ship did Drake complete his circumnavigation, and what did Elizabeth do on his return?
The Golden Hind; in 1581 Elizabeth knighted him on board the ship at Deptford.
How did Drake's circumnavigation affect English trade and exploration?
It brought back huge profits in Spanish treasure and spices, and opened up new trade routes and contacts in the Pacific and East Indies.
Who was Sir Walter Raleigh?
A courtier and explorer, a favourite of Elizabeth, who organised the Virginia colonising expeditions and later explored South America in search of gold.
What happened to the Roanoke colony?
The 1585 colony was abandoned in 1586, and the settlers of the 1587 colony had vanished by 1590 — the 'lost colony'.
True or false? Elizabeth openly backed Drake's voyage of 1577–80 when it set out.
False. She backed him secretly and shared the profits, while publicly denying responsibility.
Name two new products or crops brought back to England by Elizabethan explorers.
Potatoes and tobacco — seen as part of the special achievements of the age.
True or false? Sir Walter Raleigh sailed to Virginia and lived in the Roanoke colony himself.
False. He organised and financed the expeditions but never travelled to Virginia.
What did Drake do at Nombre de Dios in 1572?
In 1572 he attacked Nombre de Dios, the Panama port where Spanish silver was shipped. The raid failed, but in 1573 he ambushed a Spanish silver mule train nearby and came home rich and famous, and hated in Spain.
Name one English trading company founded during Elizabeth's reign.
Any one: the Eastland Company (1579, Baltic trade), the Turkey Company (1581, later the Levant Company, eastern Mediterranean) or the East India Company (1600, spices and silks from Asia).