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An 5 paragraph essay on sir francis drake
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Sir Francis Drake
Late in 1577, Francis Drake left England with five ships, ostensibly on a trading expedition to the Nile. On reaching Africa, the true destination was revealed to be the Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Magellan, to the dismay of some of the accompanying gentlemen and sailors. Still in the eastern Atlantic, a Portuguese merchant ship and its pilot - who was to stay with Drake for 15 months - was captured, and the fleet crossed the Atlantic, via the Cape Verde Islands, to a Brazilian landfall.
Running down the Atlantic South American coast, storms, separations, dissension, and a fatal skirmish with natives marred the journey. Before leaving the Atlantic, Drake lightened the expedition by disposing of two unfit ships and one English gentleman, who was tried and executed for mutiny. After rallying his men and unifying his command with a remarkable speech, Drake renamed his flagship, previously the Pelican, the Golden Hind.
In September of 1578, the fleet, now three ships, sailed through the deadly Strait of Magellan with speed and ease, only to emerge into terrific Pacific storms. For two months the ships were in mortal danger, unable to sail clear of the weather or to stay clear of the coast. The ships were scattered, and the smallest, the Marigold, went down with all hands. The Elizabeth found herself back in the strait and turned tail for England, where she arrived safely but in disgrace. Meanwhile, the Golden Hind had been blown far to the south, where Drake discovered - perhaps - that there was open water below the South American continent.
The storms abated, and the Golden Hind was finally able to sail north along the Pacific South American coast, into the previously undisturbed private waters of King Philip of Spain. The first stop, for food and water, was at the (now) Chilean Island of Mocha, where the rebellious residents laid a nearly disastrous ambush, having mistaken the English for their Spanish oppressors.
After this bad beginning in the Pacific the tide turned, and for the next five and a half months Drake raided Spanish settlements at will, among them Valpariso, Lima and Arica, and easily took Spanish ships, including the rich treasure ship "Cacafuego," leaving panic, chaos, and a confused pursuit in his wake. During this time, he captured and released a number of Europeans, whose subsequent testimony survives. The plundering was remarkable for its restraint; neither the Spanish nor the natives were intentionally harmed, there was very little violence, and there were very few casualties.
Anais Nin once said that “we write to taste life twice: in the moment and in retrospection.” In his book, Seven Myths of Spanish Conquest, Matthew Restall tries to change our perception of the past in other to open our eyes to what life was really like during the colonial period. As Restall puts it, the main propose of the book is to “illustrate the degree to which the Conquest was a far more complex and protracted affair” (p.154) than what was supposed in the latters and chronicles left by the conquistadores. Each one of Restall’s chapters examines one of seven myths regarding the mystery behind the conquest. By doing so, Matthew Restall forces us to look back at the Spanish conquest and question
He left from Spain with six ships, three to deliver supplies to the colonies in the New World, and three for the exploration to find a more direct route to Asia, which Columbus believed he would find. He sailed to the Canary islands, then west across the Atlantic. On this voyage, Columbus got stuck in the “horse latitudes”, areas where the wind is especially calm. During this time, the crews ran low on water. They reached land on the 31th of July, in present day Trinidad. The quantity of fresh water entering the ocean had Columbus conclude he was on a continent. He concluded that the “Garden of Eden” was on this new continent. In the next months, Columbus continued to explore the surrounding areas, looking for gold and the Garden of Eden. Columbus sailed to one of his previous settlements to find citizens there rebelling against the tyrannic rule he had established there. The exact date of his return to Europe was unknown, however in 1500, the Spanish crown stripped him of his Governor
A voyage set in the direction of Virginia was set by captains Philip Amada and Arthur Barlow by the authority of Sir Walter Raleigh who was given permission from Queen Elizabeth II. They set sail in the month of April 1584 and reached in July of that same year, once they disembarked there was rejoice, gun shots flew into the skies, as well as a the people gave their appreciation to god for helping them arrive safely to Virginia. The initial picture made of Vir...
Henry Hudson (English seamen) started sailing with his ship named “the half moon” in 1609 for the VOC. Officially he was searching for a new trading route to Asia. He was searching for the Northwest Passage through North America on the west of the Half Moon. A lot of explorers did the same thing before him. But he didn’t found the Northwest Passage. But he did find something else, the New Netherlands. It had beautiful woods, animals and ...
He was intending to reach Asia by sailing west rather than taking the traditional route around the Cape of Good Horn. On October 12, 1492, Columbus and his men landed on an island in the Bahamas. “As European adventurers traversed the world in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries they initiated the “Columbian Exchange” of plants, animals, and diseases. ”(P. 26). The Columbian Exchange refers to a period of exchanges between the New and Old Worlds.
Although still very inexperienced, in 1497 Vasco da Gama was chosen to lead the first expedition to India. He took four vessels to embark on the journey with him, including his own flagship the St. Gabriel. He chose to sail south along the prevailing winds of Africa in hopes of the journey taking less time than it should. After a few months of his travels, Vasco and his crew arrived at what is now known as Mozambique because the majority of his crew had come down with scurvy. Consequently, they had to reside there for nearly an entire month to rest and repair. Eventually, Vasco and
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. However, even after centuries later, little is truly known of the mysterious voyage and findings of the new world.1 By examining “Letter from Columbus to Luis Santangel”, one can further contextualize the events of Columbus' exploration of the New World. The letter uncovers Columbus' subtle hints of his true intentions and exposes his exaggerated tone that catered to his lavish demands with Spain. Likewise, The Columbian Voyage Map read in accordance with the letter helps the reader track Columbus' first, second, third, and fourth voyage to the New World carefully and conveniently. Thus, the letter and map's rarity and description render invaluable insight into Columbus' intentionality of the New World and its indigenous inhabitants.
This friendly attitude towards the natives did not last long. There was a settlement left on the island of Hispaniola, after the first voyage, called Navidad. The settlers were supposed to be cementing relations and trading with the natives. On the night of November 27, 1493, when Columbus was on his second voyage back to visit this colony, he was met with only silence. All that was found were the ashes of the town and the remains of the settlers bodies (Dor-Ner 206-207).
Drake made several voyages to the Caribbean with English seaman John Hawkins in the 1560’s, which were the early years of Drake’s career. They were not privateering voyages, but attempts to smuggle Spanish goods into the colonies. On the third voyage Hawkins’ fleet of six ships, one commanded by Sir Francis Drake, were driven into the Gulf of Mexico by a hurricane. The ships were led into the Vera Cruz port and demanded supplies. The Spanish however had a different plan of assaulting and killing many men and destroying four ships. Drake and Hawkins returned to England safely but, this incident led to Drake’s desire for revenge on the Spaniards.
Once Christopher Columbus landed on the shores of Haiti and the Dominican Republic word spread across Spain like wildfire that Christopher had succeeded in sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. Other countries such as Spain and Portugal sent conquistadors to explore the New Territory and claim lands for their own people. Spain under the rule of Isabella and Ferdinand sent Hernan Cortez, an incredible charismatic leader who was cunning, ruthless and highly educated. Hernan set sail for the coast of Mexico where he landed on the small island of San Juan de Ulua, just along the Eastern Coast of Mexico. As he set sail there will there be more to it
The exploration of the West African coast was just a preliminary to the India Trade (Parry, 131). Prince Henry encouraged his explorers to continue making their way further and further down the coastline to gain more intelligence and make more money (Parry, 132). His death in 1460 signaled an end to further exploration for a time, as the mariners had gotten to a point of coast around Benin that was more dangerous to traverse and seek a way through than it was considered worth (Parry, 133). Furthermore, Henry died in debt due to these activities, which discouraged the Crown from spending much on exploration (Parry, 133). Little by little, one small expedition after another, they eventually found the coastline trending south and continued to chart the waters and coastline until war broke out between Portugal and Castile in 1475 (Parry, 134).
fire, on a nearby island they quickly sailed to shore to help put out the
Ponce de Leon sailed to Puerto Rico in 1506 with two hundred men to the island and found out that it had rich gold deposits. He enslaved the natives, and forced them to mine gold for him. Ponce de Leon left Puerto Rico and returned again in 1508, this time he brought with him only fifty men. On this voyage, his ship went through a terrible storm that caused him to run onto the rocks on two occasions. The crew was forced to throw over much of their supplies in order to keep the ship from sinking.
At Cape Catoche of the Yucatan Peninsula, Córdova’s men first encountered a group of Indians who at first appeared friendly and welcoming only to draw those who disembarked along the road to their village where they then ambushed the explorers. In that battle, fifty soldiers died and the captain and the remaining men all suffered many wounds. The explorers continued to receive this type of reception from the Indians they encountered at every stop along the coast of the peninsula. Nearly dieing of thirst for want of fresh water, Córdova and his men tried again and again to safely land and gain casks of fresh water. At Champoton they encountered fresh water. Yet again they met with hostile, warring Indians. Only one man escaped without harm, but the Indians captured him. Once the Indians retreated, Córdova and his men quickly filled the casks with fresh water and returned to their ship. In light of the fact that the voyage proved to be somewhat of a disaster and all the men were either ill or wounded, they decided to return at once to Havana. (Díaz)
During the 1600’s the English decided to have people colonize in the Americas for the potential resources and wealth that they may find. During this time Spain, France, Portugal, and the Dutch have already began trade and exploration in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. England hearing of their riches, didn’t want to miss out of the opportunity. However, during these expeditions, there has been various news beforehand of the strong oceanic storms that would sometimes destroy ships or mislead them from their destinations Such news was not uncommon but due to the storms, many of the people knew the dangers of the journey and would often doubt the success of these explorations. For example, “ In may 1609, nine ships carrying 500 colonists under Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Summers had set sail to America to reinforce the colony at Jamestown. In an unusual storm, Gates and Summers were driven on the Bermudas, before managing to sail to the mainland” (Honan 371). News such as this was widespread throughout England and amongst these would be news of the encounters with natives. For example, “...