Lesson 1: Lesson One: the Beginnings of Empire
In this lesson you will learn how the tiny island of Britain progressed on its way to becoming a world empire. Beginning with exploration of the North American coast under the Tudors, Britain's trading interests established colonies worldwide and in the process unified a nation.
A complete biography for this course is listed at the end of lesson eight. The one essential textbook is the course compiler's own Britain:the Rise and Fall of an Empire (Newark De l97ll Red Dragon Press). The supplemental text, apart from those others listed in the bibliography, is The British Isles, a History of Four Nations by Hugh Kearney (Cambridge University Press) available through Barnes and Noble.
Tudor Interest in North America.
In l497, John and Sebastian Cabot, sailing from Bristol, took their little fleet along the coasts of what are later called Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Interest in finding new lands may have been initiated by the publication of Utopia by Thomas More in l5l5 that described the benefits of a new land.
Perhaps the most consequential discovery of the century was the Spanish discovery in l545 of the silver mine at Potosi, in what is now Bolivia, for it fueled the commercial activity of Europe during the following century. The efforts of Spain and Portugal in the same area also spurred further English interest in the Americas. England's own era of exploration, initiated by the Cabots, was expanded by the journeys of Hugh Willoughby to seek for a Northeast passage to China and the spice trade.
A great boost to exploration came from the publication, in l569, of the Flemish geographer Mercator's projection map of the world that greatly increased the accuracy of navigational maps. In l572 Francis Drake undertook his daring voyage to capture the Spanish treasure fleet returning from Peru. English exploration of North America continued in l576 when Martin Frobisher discovered Baffin's Land and Frobisher's Bay on his search for a Northwest passage to China. Two years later Queen Elizabeth gave a patent to Sir Humphrey Gilbert to "inhabit and possess at his choice all remote and heathen lands not in the actual possession of any Christian prince."
After Gilbert had tried unsuccessfully to create the first English settlement in the New World at Newfoundland in l583, the Virginia Colony was established in l584 by Sir Walter Raleigh at Roanoke. One year later, Chesapeake Bay was discovered by Ralph Lane.
In l585, Jamaican ginger arrived in Europe, the first oriental spice to have been grown in the New World. In l586, Sir Richard Cavendish became the third man to circumnavigate the globe in the Desire. During the same year, Raleigh planted potatoes on his estate near Cork, Ireland; and Virginia Dare was born on Roanoke Island, the first English child to be born in North America. In l594, after deaths from scurvy in the Royal Navy had become epidemic, Sir Richard Hawkins recommended orange and lemon juice as antiscorbutics. It eventually became standard practice in the Royal Navy to add citrus juice to the diet (conquest of scurvy played a big part in England's later domination of the seas).
When the Portuguese closed its spice market at Lisbon to Dutch and English traders, the Dutch East India Company was created to obtain spices directly from the Orient.
English exploration of the New World continued, receiving a bonus when Richard Hakluyt produced a recognizable map in l599. In l600, the Honourable East India Company was chartered to make annual voyages to the Indies and to challenge Dutch control of the spice trade. The smoking of tobacco became fashionable in London this year.
In l602, English sailor Bartholomew Gosnold explored what was later to be called "New England." He brought back sassafras, but left smallpox behind to decimate many of the native peoples, mistakenly called "Indians."
