Attempts to expand trade

What was the main centre of African trade?

Guinea

What was Guinea used as the starting point for?

John Hawkin’s move into the Americas

What did John Hawkins do in 1562?

Made the 1st of 3 voyages to the Guinea coast specifically to acquire Africans to transport across the Atlantic and sell in South America

What did this mark the beginning of?

The English slave trade

What was her first 2 expeditions?

Financially successful

What had happened by the time of his second expedition in 1564?

Hawkins had secured investment from prominent courtiers incl the Earl of Leicester and support from the queen who supplied ships

How did the 3rd expedition go disastrously wrong?

Hawkin’s fleet was blockaded in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulua

Why was his fleet blockaded?

He had irritated the Spanish authorities by selling enslaved African people at Spanish ports in defiance of rules set by the Spanish

What eventually happened to his gold?

Made its way to England and Hawkin’s investors

What did his activities antagonise?

The already strained relations between England and Spain

What did the queen being prepared to be involved suggest?

She was willing, in return for profit, to run the risk of antagonising Philip II

What were the main changes in English trading patterns in the 1580s?

The main markets for English wool moved from S to N Netherlands

There was an increase in trade with the Ottoman Empire

What did England remain however in Liz’s reign?

Relatively backward in its exploitation of trading opportunities

What was set up to to widen England’s trading interests?

Number of trading companies

Examples of the trading companies

• The Muscovy Company

• The Eastland Company

• The Levant Company

• The Eat India Company

The Muscovy Company

• Incorporated in 1555 to trade with Russia and N Europe

• Failed in the long term to compete effectively with the Dutch

The Eastland Company

• Set up in 1579 to trade in the Baltic

• Limited effect

The Levant Company

• Founded in 1581 as the Turkish Company

• Enjoyed success in its attempts to develop trade with the Ottoman Empire

The East India Company

• Set up in 1600 to trade with Asia

• Had less investment compared to the Dutch East India Company

• Very difficult to compete in the short term

What happened to English exports?

Carried further afield

What began to enter the country?

A wide range of foreign English exports

What had happened by the end of Liz’s reign?

The trading companies still remained relatively modest organisations