Francis Drake partook in some of the first English slaving voyages to Africa and earned a reputation for piracy against the Spanish. Sent to South America by Queen Elizabeth II in 1577, he returned home by the Pacific and thusly became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. The queen rewarded him with knighthood. Drake died in January 1596 of dysentery.
In 1567, Drake sailed to Africa in order to join the fledgling slave trade. When he sailed to New Spain to sell his captives to settlers there they were trapped by a Spanish attack in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulua. Many of their crewmates were killed in the incident, though Drake escaped and returned to England with a lifelong hatred for Spain and its ruler, King Philip II. After leading two successful …show more content…
After he headed north in search of a route back to the Atlantic. Extreme cold conditions turned him back which forced him to anchor near today’s San Francisco. He claimed the surrounding land, which he called New Albion, for Queen Elizabeth.
Although there were complaints from the Spanish government about his piracy, Drake was honored as the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. Several months after his return, Queen Elizabeth personally knighted him aboard the Golden Hind. In 1585, with conflict heating up again between England and Spain, the queen gave Drake command of a fleet of 25 ships. He sailed to the West Indies and the coast of Florida and mercilessly plundered Spanish ports there.
After a failed exploration in Portugal in 1589, Drake returned home to England for several years, until Queen Elizabeth enlisted him for one more voyage, against Spanish possessions in the West Indies in early 1596. The expedition proved to be a dismal failure: Spain fended off the English attacks. He died in late January 1596 from dysentery, an infection of the intestines that causes diarrhea with the presence of blood and/or
In 1567, Drake sailed to Africa in order to join the fledgling slave trade. When he sailed to New Spain to sell his captives to settlers there they were trapped by a Spanish attack in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulua. Many of their crewmates were killed in the incident, though Drake escaped and returned to England with a lifelong hatred for Spain and its ruler, King Philip II. After leading two successful …show more content…
After he headed north in search of a route back to the Atlantic. Extreme cold conditions turned him back which forced him to anchor near today’s San Francisco. He claimed the surrounding land, which he called New Albion, for Queen Elizabeth.
Although there were complaints from the Spanish government about his piracy, Drake was honored as the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. Several months after his return, Queen Elizabeth personally knighted him aboard the Golden Hind. In 1585, with conflict heating up again between England and Spain, the queen gave Drake command of a fleet of 25 ships. He sailed to the West Indies and the coast of Florida and mercilessly plundered Spanish ports there.
After a failed exploration in Portugal in 1589, Drake returned home to England for several years, until Queen Elizabeth enlisted him for one more voyage, against Spanish possessions in the West Indies in early 1596. The expedition proved to be a dismal failure: Spain fended off the English attacks. He died in late January 1596 from dysentery, an infection of the intestines that causes diarrhea with the presence of blood and/or