Independent Explorers

Thesis: Elizabethan overseas exploration truly affects where we live today.

Quote 1: "In 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian navigator in the service of Spain, reached the Americas. Five years later, the Portuguese sea captain Vasco da Gama sailed a new route to India. These discoveries made Spain and Portugal rich."

Commentary: After Christopher Columbus reached the Americas, it provided new places for people to live.

Quote 2: "In 1497, under the authorization of Henry VII of England, John Cabot, an Italian-born navigator, sailed northwestward to seek another way to East Asia. Instead, he reached either Newfoundland or Nova Scotia in what is now Canada and claimed the region for England."

Commentary: England, needing new routes to East Asia, sent John Cabot, an Italian navigator. Instead of finding East Asia, he found what is now Canada and claimed it for England.

Uncharted Exploration

Quote 1: "When Elizabeth (1533–1603) became queen in 1558, the island nation had no available routes for trading in Africa, Asia, or the New World, and it ruled no overseas colonies. Soon, however, independent traders and adventurers of Elizabethan England challenged the great European sea powers and claimed for England a growing, international trade route extending across the known limits of the world."

Commentary: Many explorers and traders went sailing into unknown area to claim international trade route.

Quote 2: "Unable to acquire valued goods, Europeans had but one option: to turn to the uncharted oceans. They embarked upon the most significant period of ocean exploration in history."

Commentary: The Europeans needed valued goods and they couldn't acquire them because they were blocked off. Because of this, they had to explore uncharted areas.

Privateers

Quote 1:"After the Spaniards attacked an English captain named John Hawkins in a Mexican port in 1568, many English captains received government commissions to attack Spanish ships and ports. The commanders and crew of such privately owned attack ships were called privateers."

Commentary:Privateers contributed to keep England's reputation by attacking Spanish ships and ports.

Quote 2:"Since Italian explorer Marco Polo (1254–1324) first ventured to Asia in 1266, Europe had enjoyed the exotic merchandise and foods of the faraway lands of China (then called Cathay), India, and the Spice Islands (the Moluccas). For centuries Europeans traveled to these distant markets by land, but in the early 1400s, Middle Eastern natives denied Europeans access to the overland route."

Commentary: After Marco Polo went to Asia, it gave access to many exotic merchandise and foods that Europe never had access to.

Elizabethan Sea Battles

Quote 1:"Rivalry between England and Spain finally led to war. Spain wished to crush England because England was Protestant and because English ships raided Spanish colonies and competed with Spanish settlers and traders. King Philip II of Spain built a huge fleet called the Armada to conquer England. But an English fleet led by Admiral Lord Howard of Effingham defeated the Armada in 1588."

Commentary: The English fleet destroying the Armada was a big advance for the English because if they were conquered, they would be unable to claim for land.

Quote 2:"In 1588, the English navy defeated the powerful Spanish Armada, a fleet of armed ships that tried to invade England. English merchants and sailors then challenged the Spanish with greater confidence around the world. England's economy prospered during the Elizabethan Age."

Commentary:With England's economy prospering, it could support even more explorers to claim more land.

Quote 3: "Defense against the Spanish attacks and war with Ireland was very costly. England had strengthened its international reputation, however, and used this influence to extend its reach beyond its own coastlines. The queen hoped that colonization would provide the Crown with treasures and resources to make up for what it had lost in battle".

Commentary: Without treasures and resources, England could not support it's explorers therefore, not being able to acquire new land.

Blackbeard

Quote 1:"Blackbeard (?-1718), a British pirate, was one of the most famous villains in the history of the sea. He received his name from his habit of braiding his long, black beard and tying the braids with ribbon. Few pirates have looked and acted as fierce as Blackbeard."

Commentary: Blackbeard would use his way of braiding his beard to his advantage to terrify his enemies when in battle.

Works Cited

Bumgardner, Jake. “Elizabethan Age.” World Book Advanced. World Book, 2016. Web. 1 Dec. 2016.

Caffrey, Cait. “Elizabethan Era.” Salem Press Encyclopedia (2016): Topic Overviews 6-12. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.

“Elizabethan Explorers and Colonizers.” Elizabethan World Reference Library. Ed. Sonia G. Benson and Jennifer York Stock. Vol. 1: Almanac. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 85-102. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 Dec. 2016.

Morrill, John S. “United Kingdom, History of the.” World Book Advanced. World Book, 2016. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

Ritchie, Robert C. “Blackbeard.” World Book Advanced. World Book, 2016. Web. 5 Dec. 2016.