Elizabethan explorers - OCR B - GCSE History

Why explore?

• Impact of renaissance and earlier voyages of discovery

• New ideas about history, geography, cosmology, religion etc

• Increasing contact with other people

• A sense of scramble for territory as new worlds were discovered

• Monarchies competing for status

• Desire for trade links and sea routes

N E S T

Naval power

Empire

weakening Spain

Trade

John Dee

• Valued advisor to the queen 

• Specialised in mathematics, astronomy, astrology, medicine and navigation

What did John Dee want to achieve?

• 22/11/1577 he met with the Queen at Windsor to discuss how during the first part of her reign the she had a very isolated empire, whilst the Spanish and Portuguese had extensive empires

• John Dee wished to change this

• He hoped to set up links with the rich markets in China and the East Indies, and establish colonies in North America and establish the English Empire

What did John Dee do?

• Produced a map to justify the colonisation of North America

  • He argued the Atlantic voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot after 1497 gave Elizabeth a claim to North America and encouraged her to set up a colony

  • Even suggested that the Medieval Welsh King Madog had discovered America

• John Dee gave the Queen and other explorers visions of an empire that could rival Spain

Humphrey Gilbert

• Hates catholic spain

  • Tried to establish colony in america in order to provide a base from which the english could attack spanish ships.

• In 1578, the Queen had granted Gilbert a charter for six years.

  • Gilbert's first attempt in 1579  was a disaster- it pillaged several Spanish ships in the Caribbean and returned to England two years later.

  • Humphrey Gilbert’s fleet sailed from Plymouth on 11th june 1583.

  • They arrived in Newfoundland

• On 9th september 1583, the ship sank and Humphrey Gilbert drowned.

Francis Drake

• Claimed several islands

• Attacked many Spanish and Portuguese 

• Got a knighthood

• First Englishman to sail around the world

• Drake made several voyages to the Caribbean in the 1570s

  • In 1577, he set off on a voyage and was supposed to go to Chile and Peru

• The King of Spain saw Drake as a pirate

• Drake earned his wealth through bravery and skill

What did Walter Raleigh want to do?

• Pursue his half-brother’s dream of establishing a colony in North America

• Driven by the possibility of discovering a Northern Sea route from the atlantic to the pacific

• Thought that America could be a gateway to the wealth of Asia

  • Offered the potential to build an empire to rival those of the Spanish and Portuguese, and potentially gold in North America

What did the Queen grant Raleigh a charter for?

• 1584

• The Queen granted him a royal charter to explore and colonise North America in return for ⅕ of all the gold or silver that might be found there. 

What happened on Walter Raleigh’s reconnaissance voyage in 1584?

• April - sent his friends Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe on 2 small ships to explore the coast of North America

• Early July - they reached Roanoke where they made contact with the Algonquian people

• Got friend Richard Hakluyt to write a pamphlet on benefits of colonisation to convince the queen to set up a colony

What happened on the expedition that Raleigh intended to lead to Virginia in 1585?

• Queen would not part with him, so instead 600 sailors went lead by his cousin Richard Grenville and by military commander Ralph Lane

• Difficult journey across the atlantic, Grenville’s ship the tiger sailed on alone

How did Raleigh’s plan to establish Roanoke fail?

• End of July 1585 - Ralph Lane took up role as the colony’s governor

• Plan to settle 600 men there was quickly abandoned

• Autumn of 1585 - Lack of food became an issue

• Wingina, the Alonquian chief who ruled over roanoke and neighboring territory gave them corn, but they began to run out of food for their own families in the winter. Lane learned they were planning to attack and launched a pre-emptive strike, killing Wingina and so the Alonquian became increasingly hostile

• 1586 - Francis Drake came to rescue them

What did Raleigh’s failed plan enable England to do?

To learn a lot about America

Why did Raleigh go to Guiana?

To look for El Dorado

What happened to Ralph Fitch?

• In 1583 he set off on a journey to India, accompanied by John Newberry, John Eldred, William Leedes, James Story

  • None returned except Ralph Fitch

• They had been commissioned by Turkey Company to find opportunities for trade in India, South East Asia, and possibly China

Who formed the EIC?

James Lancaster and over 100 of London’s leading merchants on the 22 September 1600

Trade with the East

• 1580s - Wealth of gentry and middling sort increased

  • Led to growing demand for luxury products from the East

• Spain invaded Portugal - 1580

  • To prevent trade with India being disrupted, England strengthened trade with Constantinople and the Ottoman Empire, forming the Turkey Company in 1581

• Ralph Fitch commissioned by Turkey Company

  • Found out about possibilities of trade with South East Asia

When did Ralph Fitch journey to the East?

1583-91

When was the first EIC voyage?

• Led by James Lancaster

• 1601-03

• Brought back spices and set up factories on Java

• Queen had been dead half a year on return