The Beginning of the British Empire

The British Empire dates back to the Tudor times with one of our earliest known explorers being John Cabot, who in fourteen ninety-seven discovered land in North America and called it Newfoundland, now part of Canada. The expansion of the Tudor navy first under Henry the seventh, followed by his son Henry the eighth continued under Elizabeth the first who began the exploration of the world by the English. Sir Francis Drake was the first sailor to circumnavigate the earth, on his ship, the Golden Hind. There were other Tudors who explored the oceans such as Sir Walter Raleigh who founded a colony in North America; he named it Virginia after Elizabeth first, the “Virgin Queen”. It was at this time that the Empire really began to take off. The smarter merchants worked out that if they could purchase goods abroad at cheaper enough prices, they could bring them back to England and sell them at a profit. Goods such as cotton, sugar and tobacco from Virginia; carpets and spices from the eastern Mediterranean, wine from Italy as well as spices, jewels and silk from India.