Drake’s raid Under the early Tudors, England had hopes of trading peacefully with the Spanish Indies, but Elizabeth I’s aid to the rebellious Spanish Netherlands and her execution of Mary Stuart put an end to those ideas. Testing the waters in the early 1580s, English “adventurers” set up a small colony at Roanoke in Virginia (which disappeared without a trace) while English pirates, fortified by anti-Spanish propaganda, challenged the fragile status quo by raiding the Spanish Main. Sir Francis Drake’s 1586 attack on St. Augustine led the Spanish to pull back from supporting some of their North American outposts, and Santa Elena in present-day South Carolina was abandoned. |
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18. Caradoc, of Llancarvan. The history of Wales. Written originally in British. London, 1774. This land, to the which Madoc came, must needs be some part of Nova Hispania or Florida. Whereupon it is manifest, that that countrie was long before by Brytaines discovered, afore either Columbus or Americus Vesputius lead anie Spaniardes hither. |
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19. Bartolomé de las Casas. The Spanish colonie. London, 1583. …what right had the Spaniards over the Indians: saving that the Pope had given them the said land, and I leave to your judgement what right hee had therein: for it is doubtfull whether his power doe stretch to the distributing of worldly kingdoms. |
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20. Henry Hexham. A tongue-combat lately happening between two English souldiers. London, 1623. |
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21. “St. Augustine.” In: Walter Bigges. A summarie and true discourse. London, 1589. |
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22. Baptista Boazio. The famous West Indian voyadge made by the Englishe fleete. [London, 1589]. This map showing the track of Drake’s Caribbean raids was part of victory celebrations in print. Unlike earlier assaults on the Spanish, this expedition had the official support of Queen Elizabeth and was England’s first national assault on the Spanish Main. Additionally, it had great propaganda value, for although the attacks had been financially unsuccessful, rumors spread through Europe that the reverse was true. |
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To next section: the florida indian in literature and art | ||
Exhibition may be seen in THE Reading Room from january through Exhibition prepared by Amy Turner Bushnell, Independent Research Scholar, and Susan Danforth, Curator of Maps, John Carter Brown Library. |