Elizabethan England / 1571-1588
Elizabethan England: Drake and Spain
Drake angered Spain because he attacked Spanish property, made Elizabeth look bold and helped drag England towards war.
What To Remember
- Drake was a privateer who attacked Spanish ships and colonies with Elizabeth's backing.
- In 1577 to 1580 he sailed around the world and brought back huge amounts of Spanish treasure.
- Elizabeth knighted him, which made Philip II even angrier.
Why Spain was angry
In 1571 Drake captured Spanish ships and seized their goods, which Spaniards saw as piracy rather than exploration.
Elizabeth then hired him as a privateer in 1572 and secretly backed the 1577 voyage that attacked Spanish colonies in the Americas.
Spain saw every success as a direct attack on its empire, its trade and Philip II's authority.
Why it mattered
Drake's 1577 to 1580 voyage made him famous because he became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world, brought back about 400,000 pounds of Spanish treasure and claimed north California for England.
Elizabeth knighted him publicly, which Philip II treated as a deliberate insult because he saw Drake as nothing more than a pirate.
By 1587 Drake was attacking Cadiz too, so his actions were not just profitable but strategically tied to the coming war.
Revision Prompt
How did Drake increase tension with Spain?