His early life, however, was marked by close links with Spain, then a global superpower. Simplified accounts of Drake often portray him as anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic. This war, of benefit to Spain, was a consequence of Queen Mary’s decision to wed Spain’s King Philip II in 1554. Drake, Hawkins, and other privateers were tacitly permitted to prey on French shipping because England was at war with France. Requiring skill, bravery, ruthlessness, and a streak of cruelty, it was a job at which Drake would excel all his life. Around age 18, Drake began sailing on the Hawkinses’s boats and was already gaining experience at sea in acts of piracy against French vessels. John Hawkins, Drake’s older cousin, became a close friend and mentor. ( Enslaved Africans first arrived in colonial Virginia in 1619.) Drake’s life would be dominated by Plymouth, the port that would play a key role in England’s colonialism-and from where the Pilgrims would set off in 1620. The Hawkinses, as sailors and traders, exploited the growing transatlantic trade. After his father, a sheepshearer, became a Protestant curate in southeast England, Drake was sent to live with relatives, the Hawkins family in Plymouth. Unauthorized use is prohibited.ĭrake’s early years were spent on a farm in Devon in western England.
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