The Elizabethans & Exploration (Edexcel GCSE History)

The 16th century was an exciting period for exploration. The Renaissance period encouraged new thinking. Elizabethans wanted to understand more about the world around them. Adventure and wealth drove explorers like Sir Francis Drake to make voyages across the world. Technology impacted Elizabethan exploration. Elizabethan explorers travelled further and more often than in previous centuries. 

 Navigational tools improved in this period. Maps, astrolabes and quadrants helped explorers accurately plot and navigate their journeys. There were improvements in ship design. Elizabethan galleons could travel faster and carry more goods. The ship design also protected English galleons from attacks from pirates or privateers. 

 Drake circumnavigated the world in 1577-80. This inspired many Englishmen to begin careers in privateering and exploration.

Trade

England's conflict with Spain made Elizabethan merchants suffer. The cloth trade with the Netherlands was a fundamental part of England's economy. Merchants began to look for new, undisturbed places to trade in. English merchants exploited the existing African slave trade to lay the foundations of the Triangular Trade between England, Africa and the Americas. John Hawkins first brought enslaved Africans in 1562 to sell to Spanish colonists. He brought back valuable items like ginger and sugar to sell in England

Wealth

Explorers reported back to England about the treasures available in the Americas such as precious metals and crops. The potential profits from these markets persuaded investors to fund voyages to the Americas. Queen Elizabeth hired privateers like Sir Francis Drake to find and steal the wealth in Spain's American colonies. Much of the interior of America remained unexplored. This provided an opportunity for explorers to discover further wealth in the Americas

Adventure

Elizabethans had few opportunities to travel. The accounts of explorers like Sir Walter Raleigh inspired young men to voyage to the Americas. They desired treasure, fame and wealth, but many did not find this. Transatlantic voyages were very dangerous. Many of these young explorers would die from preventable diseases, mutiny or attacks

New routes

Explorers wanted to find a new passage to the Far East. They believed that a faster route existed around North America. This was called the North-West Passage. Although the passage was not discovered until 1845, it inspired Elizabethan explorers to study the coastline of America

Personal vengeance

Drake had a hatred of Spain. Drake worked with his cousin, John Hawkins, on a slave trading voyage in 1567-68. Spanish ships attacked them, killing 325 of Hawkins' sailors. Circumnavigating the world would show the strength of English sailors

Political factors

By 1578, Anglo-Spanish relations were at an all-time low. If Drake successfully navigated across the globe, it would be a powerful political victory for England. Philip II of Spain recognised England as a threat

Wealth

When news of Drake's attempt to circumnavigate the world reached England, it attracted a significant number of private investors. When he returned to England in 1580, Drake had captured £400,000 of Spanish treasure. He became a very rich man

Fame

Drake would become the second person in history to circumnavigate the world. Upon his return in 1580, he became a national hero