BiographyFrancis Drake: life and legacy
Overview
Drake participated in early English slaving voyages before raiding Spanish possessions and completing a circumnavigation between 1577 and 1580. Elizabeth I knighted him and profited from his captured wealth. His role against the Armada became national legend, but violence, private war and Atlantic slavery are inseparable from his career.
Life and career
Drake participated in early English slaving voyages before raiding Spanish possessions and completing a circumnavigation between 1577 and 1580. Elizabeth I knighted him and profited from his captured wealth. His role against the Armada became national legend, but violence, private war and Atlantic slavery are inseparable from his career.
Key events
c. 1540: Born. Francis Drake was born in c. 1540. Early Modern: Historical career. English mariner, privateer and slave trader who circumnavigated the globe and fought the Spanish Armada.
1596: Died. Francis Drake died in 1596.
Historical context
Francis Drake's career belongs within British History. Their career illuminates the changing relationship between monarchy, Parliament, party, empire and popular politics. British history is also the history of its nations and its global connections, not only Westminster. The central subjects here are the events behind this summary: English mariner, privateer and slave trader who circumnavigated the globe and fought the Spanish Armada.