English Empire
Note in 1707 England and Scotland became
unified and from then on known as Britain
Reading and discussion prep
A. If there is a book assigned for the week I
will expect you to use that to prepare
B. If there is not I will post some a extract online (usually primary source)
I also expect you to give yourself a
background knowledge of the subject
Role of England
 England weak, politically and economically in
comparison to Spain.
 Henry VII had sponsored John Cabot’s voyages to
Canada 1497, lost interest when NW passage not
discovered.
 Lack of political will, and military capacity to
challenge Spain before later 16thC
 But- dry run for colonial expansion in Ireland
Ireland
 Ireland conquered by Normans, but gradually England lost
control.
 Tudors show renewed interest.
 Major military expeditions during Elizabethan period, led by
soldiers & adventurers.
 Followed up by colonizers,
 especially those seeking large land holdings, use of Gaelic
Irish as serfs,
 frequent atrocities and brutality towards Irish
 seen as Catholic, barbaric, sub-humans.
 About 200,000 migrants from GB to Ireland 1600-1670, twice
number who went to America
Ireland as a blueprint
 Financed by Joint Stock Companies, same as would
finance American colonies
 Use of promotional literature to popularize
colonization
 Attitudes towards native peoples similar
 Many of the individuals involved in Irish colonization
later involved in American colonization
 e.g.
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Richard Grenville,
Humphrey Gilbert,
Walter Raleigh.
English Imperial Ambitions
 Motivation: envy of Spanish treasure from America;
wealth helped Spain become most powerful nation;
 English policy to break the Iberian monopoly on America
due to fear that American wealth, after Henry VIII's split
with Rome (1534), could be used against them.
 English government sanctioned privateering operations
against Spanish. Capturing Spanish treasure ships
bringing gold & silver from New World.
 By 1580 increasingly dangerous to
prey on Spanish shipping suggestion that American base
needed.
 Idea that American colonies would
also ease English reliance on
southern Europe for citrus fruits,
silks, and vines.
 Importance of Propaganda,
 Richard Haklyut.
 1st patent to settle in America
granted to Sir Humphrey Gilbert,
half brother to Walter Raleigh,
permitted him to settle anywhere
between Florida and Northern
Canada
Early British Attempts
 Initially England was
not successful
 Martin Frobsier


Searching for gold
and a northwest
passge
3 failed journeys
between 1576-1578
 Humphrey Gilbert

Attempted to settle in
Newfoundland – failed,
Gilbert dies at sea
 John Hawkins and Francis
Drake

Successful in the Caribbean
But as pirates not settlers
 But by 1580 England still
had no permanent
settlement in Americas
 Three English voyages to settle
North America in 1580s.
Roanoke
 The first landed at Roanoke
Island, North Carolina on July
13th, 1584,
 short lived military expedition
which found that the land was
suitable for both cultivation and
defence,
 returned home to England with 2
local Indians, Manteo &
Wanchese.
Roanoke
Island
 1585-6, 2nd English Voyage
 under Ralph Lane, discovered Chesapeake
Bay, ideal as naval base.
 Noted for the oil paintings of John White
and the descriptions of Thomas Hariot.
 But, young male adventurers, with
ambitions of land and wealth, not ideal
colonists.
 Indian relations
deteriorated, food
supply from Indians
cut off
 Drake arrived
summer 1586,
seeking re-supply,
ends up providing
food for colonists,
eventually agrees to
return them to
England
The Lost Colony
 Third voyage 1587: very different from previous ones
 most colonists farmers not soldiers, & came in family groups.
 Clearly intended to be a permanent settlement, self-sustaining
and self-reproducing.
 John White = Governor, returned to England for more
supplies, leaving daughter and grand-daughter, Virginia Dare,
at Roanoke.
 Unable to return until 1590 due to Spanish Armada, since all
ships diverted to defence of realm.
 When finally arrives, found settlement abandoned, colonists
never seen again.
 Most likely attacked by Indians, survivors absorbed into
tribes.
Importance of Roanoke
 3 voyages saw evolution of colonising
thought
 Roanoke seen as
 A base for privateering,
 Then a place where valuable raw
materials could be shipped to England,
 Third voyage aimed to settle
permanently.
 The lessons of Roanoke were clear:
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

no colony could exist without full support from
mother country for at least the first few years of
existence;
clear goals were needed
good relations with the Indians were necessary
 Put this together and what was needed was
 Order
 Order would give control and allow for a
structure
 Although beginning of cracks in strict
hierarchy
 Still a rigid concept
 Heading to the unknown there was a need to
reinforce it
Two examples of understanding
of
English
order
 All things bright and

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beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and
wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.
Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.
The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.
Into this steps
John Smith
 Born 1580 in England
 left home at age 16 after his
father died
 Began travels France
fighting for Dutch
independence from Spain.
 Two years later,
Mediterranean Sea,
working on a merchant ship
 1600 joined Austrian forces
to fight the Turks
 promoted to Captain while
fighting in Hungary
 This is the moment were Smith fights and defeats
 3 Turkish champions
 Transylvania 1602
 wounded in battle, captured, and sold
as a slave to a Turk.
 Turk sent Smith as a gift to his
sweetheart in Istanbul
 Girl fell in love with him
 sent him to brother to get training for
Turkish imperial service.
 Escaped by murdering the brother
 Returned to Transylvania through
Russia and Poland
 Released from service
 Received large reward
 Traveled Europe and Northern
Africa
 Returned to England in the winter
of 1604-05.