Sir Francis Drake participated in some of the earliest English slaving voyages to Africa and earned a reputation for his privateering, or piracy, against Spanish ships and possessions. Discover the life of the Tudor sailor and privateer.Francis Drake became the first European to sail and explore much of the Americas.

He attacked Spanish ships carrying treasures from their colonies in South America, and also raided Spanish and Portuguese ports in the Atlantic Ocean.Drake voyaged around the world between 1577 to 1580.

The Sir Francis Drake Statue on Plymouth Hoe – Photographed by Lucas Voss. He could be considered a morally dubious hero in many ways, perhaps even a villain, but was still incredibly influential in Tudor times. He had heard there were no slaves in England, and if he joined the English they might take him there. He attacked Spanish ships carrying treasures from their colonies in South America, and also raided Spanish and Portuguese ports in the Atlantic Ocean. Discover Britain’s emergence as a maritime nation through key events and personalities of the 16th and 17th centuries.Four new galleries at the National Maritime Museum. Sir Francis Drake was a pirate, politician, and privateer from Devon, whose real life exploits and aid to the Crown were conflated over time with folklore and legends pertaining to his abilities.

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A decade later, he was serving as governor of the eastern province of Hispaniola when he decided to explore a nearby island, which became The explorer Christopher Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain: in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502. When did Francis Drake circumnavigate the world?

He then sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and arrived back in England’s Plymouth Harbor in September 1580. Arguably, Sir Francis Drake is Plymouth’s most famous figure. The expedition proved to be a dismal failure: Spain fended off the English attacks, and Drake came down with fever and dysentery.
When they sailed to New Spain to sell their captives to settlers there (which was against Spanish law) they were trapped by a Spanish attack in the Mexican port of San Juan de Ulua. This meant that ships could sail between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans around the bottom of South America (later known as the Cape Horn route).

Instead, he stumbled upon the Americas. During the period in which he lived, there was a rise in England’s population and a desire to explore the world for trade routes and colonies, and to benefit from the huge profits being made from the Americas and the Eastern spice trade.While Drake is considered a hero in England, he is remembered as a pirate in Spain.

Sent by Queen Elizabeth I to South America in 1577, he returned home via the Pacific and became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe; the queen rewarded him with a knighthood. Divers, treasure hunters and Drake enthusiasts continue to search for his final resting place.In 1567, Drake and his cousin John Hawkins sailed to Africa in order to join the fledgling slave trade. The eldest of 12 sons, he first went to sea as an apprentice aged 12. The … Who was Sir Francis Drake?

He is a man around whom a great deal of legends and myths have arisen. After growing close to Elizabeth I during his time in the army, Raleigh was knighted in 1585 and became captain of the guard. Drake … He had to get on board.

Following a series of storms, the Drake was one of Queen Elizabeth’s most renowned sailors, making a name for himself as an enemy of the Spanish and obtaining much wealth for the Queen in the process.The Queen sponsored Drake's expedition to circumnavigate the earth, and upon his return Elizabeth dined on board the It is reputed that Sir Francis Drake was told of the sighting of the Armada while playing bowls on Plymouth Hoe.

He died in late January 1596 at age 55 off the coast of Puerto Bello (now Portobelo, Panama).Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.Diego ran headlong through the gunfire toward the boats on the beach. Drake also sailed further north along the coast of the Americas than any other European had before. It began with the Vikings’ brief stint in Newfoundland circa 1000 A.D. and continued through England’s colonization of the Atlantic Born into Spanish nobility, Juan Ponce de León (1460-1521) may have accompanied Christopher Columbus on his 1493 voyage to the New World.

The original purpose of the trip was to raid Spanish ships and ports. He was determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia, but he never did.

Though the exact details of his life and expeditions are the In search of fame and fortune, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (c. 1480-1521) set out from Spain in 1519 with a fleet of five ships to discover a western sea route to the Spice Islands. He knew some of their countrymen traded in Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) was an English adventurer, writer and nobleman. He was perhaps most well known for spearheading the English fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada in 1588, a feat that came second in priority after he insisted on finishing his game of bowls.
While Drake is considered a hero in England, he is remembered as a pirate in Spain.

Golden Hind was an English galleon best known for her privateering circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580, captained by Sir Francis Drake.She was originally known as Pelican, but was renamed by Drake mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton, whose crest was a golden 'hind' (a female red deer).Hatton was one of the principal sponsors of Drake's world voyage. He is supposed to have said, 'There is plenty of time to finish the game and beat the Spaniards.' It was not long before Drake was again ‘revived’ as an inspirational character at a time of national crisis.