Voyages of discovery in the late 15th and early 16th centuries AD led to Portuguese and Spanish conquests and trade with the Far East and the Americas. Spain was rich and could afford to sponsor expeditions, but England was not so wealthy. English explorers, known as privateers, funded themselves by raiding Spanish treasure ships. Adventurers like Drake, Frobisher, Hawkins and Raleigh challenged Spanish sea power and trade monopolies.

Sir Francis Drake (about 1543-96) came from a group of Devon families who made a living from privateering. Elizabeth publicly disapproved of this, but privately invested in his expeditions. In 1577 Drake set off on a ‘trading venture’ to the Americas. His real goal was to sail around the world and challenge Spanish superiority on the seas. He managed to navigate the globe in his ship the Golden Hind, returning to England in 1580, with rich rewards for his investors.

Frobisher’s expeditions (1576-8) to look for a trade route to the East via the North-West Passage (above Canada) failed but his discoveries opened the way for later explorers. In the 1580s, Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored an English settlement at Roanoke in Virginia (named after the Virgin Queen). It ultimately vanished but laid the foundations for permanent settlements in the 17th century.