Dates

16th Century (1500s)

• Flourishing of Cottage Industries (e.g., nail making, hosiery, soap manufacturing, brewing) – throughout the 16th century.

• Frequent Harvest Failures:

  • 1550s: Beginning of food shortages.

• Shipbuilding Flourished: Early part of Elizabeth’s reign (around 1558–1570s).

• John Hawkins' Slave Trade Expeditions: 1562–1568.

• Hawkins’s First Slave Trade Expeditions (with royal and noble backing): 1562–1568.

• Sir Francis Drake’s Circumnavigation of the Globe: 1577–1580.

• Spanish Armada Defeat: 1588.

• Raleigh’s Expeditions (Virginia colony attempts):

  • 1585: First expedition.

  • 1587: Second expedition.

• Raleigh's Roanoke Colony Attempts: 1585–1587.

• Levant Company Founded: 1581.

• Food Riots in London, Southeast, and West of England: 1595.

• Subsistence Crisis: 1596–1597.

• Further Food Riots in East Anglia: 1596–1597.

• Last Years of Elizabeth’s Reign (1590s):

  • Economic hardship, food shortages, and plague outbreaks.

  • The poor faced worsening conditions despite hard work and thrift.

17th Century (1600s)

• East India Company Founded: 1600.

• Poor Laws Passed: 1598 and 1601 (reflecting the scale of problems for the poor).

• Beginnings of Trade Companies to Challenge Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch Domination: Early 17th century (1600s).