Sir Francis Drake was one of the great explorers of the Elizabethan age. Drake, along with several other explorers, enabled England to begin the colonisation process that led to the British Empire becoming so large.
Born: 1540, near Tavistock in Devon.
Francis Drake was one of 12 children.
Sir Francis Drake achieved many things. He was the first Englishman to sail around the world, sank much of the Spanish navy in the port of Cadiz (a very daring raid) and was vice admiral of the Fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada.
Was Drake a Pirate?
In a way yes. Drake attacked Spanish cargo ships and settlements with the intention of making money from this. This was done with permission of Queen Elizabeth I however: who made a lot of money from Drakes explorations.
A Brief timeline of Francis Drakes life and achievements.
1567 Part of Sir John Hawkins slave trading mission.
1570/71 Drake made two highly profitable journey’s to the West Indies.
1573-1576 part of the force that quelled the Irish rebellion.
1579-80 Drake sails around the world in the Golden Hind. the First Englishman to do so!
1581 Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
1581 Sir Francis Drake becomes Mayor of Plymouth.
1584-1585 Member of parliament for Plymouth.
1585 Raids and destroys many Spanish settlements in the Caribbean.
1587 On the orders of Queen Elizabeth, Drake attacks, and destroys, the Spanish Fleet at Cadiz.
1588 Vice Admiral of the navy that destroyed the Spanish Armada.
1595 Sent to attack Spanish settlements in the West Indies. Drake dies of dysentery on the return journey after failing to capture Panama City.
The Tudors
People
King Henry VII – King Henry VIII – King Edward VI – Queen Mary I [Bloody Mary]– Queen Elizabeth I – Anne Boleyn – Mary Boleyn – Sir Walter Raleigh – Sir Francis Drake – William Shakespeare – Margaret Beaufort – Lambert Simnel
Events
The Wars of the Roses – Battle of Bosworth – Battle of Stoke Field – Protestant Reformation – Spanish Armada
The Elizabethan Age
England in 1588: Society and Government – Elizabethan Religious Settlement – Challenges to the Religious Settlement – Mary Queen of Scots – Plots and Rebellions in the Elizabethan Age – Anglo-Spanish Relations in the Elizabethan Age – How did the English defeat the Spanish Armada?– Education, Culture and Leisure – Elizabethan Poor Law – Voyages of Discovery – Sir Walter Raleigh and the Roanoke and the Virginia Colony