In Search of a Kingdom: Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Invention of the British Empire

by Laurence Bergreen

Drake became the catalyst in England’s great transition from an island nation to the British Empire.

Of the 258 sailors and five ships that had set out, only one ship with eighteen emaciated sailors completed the circumnavigation.

At the time of Victoria’s return to Seville, Henry VIII had ruled England for thirteen years. His was an exceedingly violent reign. He sent twenty-seven thousand people to their deaths, or nearly one percent of the population of England and Wales.

she suffered from insomnia and dreaded a surprise attack in her bedchamber—and with good reason. During her reign, she survived fourteen assassination plots.

The challenges posed by excommunication proved liberating, and she retained her popularity with her preferred constituency, the people. She conveyed the impression of evenhandedness, which only added to her stature. “I see and I say nothing” became her watchword. Later, she won admiration from a most unlikely source, Pope Sixtus V, who offered compliments tinged with regret: “She certainly is a great queen. Were she only a Catholic, she would be our dearly beloved. Just look how well she governs,” he exclaimed. “She is only a woman—only mistress of half an island—and yet she makes herself feared by Spain, by France, by the Empire, by all.” This cantankerous and unattractive pontiff was smitten by the heretical queen. “A pity we cannot marry, she and I, for our children would have ruled the world,” he lamented. Nor was he alone. English poets called her “Gloriana” in tribute.

During the early years of the Spanish empire, an estimated seventy million people perished, more than 80 percent of the entire indigenous population of Central and South America. The toll was so high that it is considered the worst genocide in history.

In Elizabethan England, witches were believed to rely on a “familiar,” perhaps a black cat, or toad, even a bird, to facilitate mayhem. When people or animals died from terrible diseases, when a crop failed, when houses burned to the ground, when soup or milk turned sour and curdled, witches were held responsible. Superstitions regarding witches abounded. Spilled salt brought misfortune. (Salt was expensive.) Walking under a ladder was considered bad luck. (A ladder resembled the gallows.) If someone sneezed, others immediately recited “Bless you” to prevent the Devil from entering the body through the mouth. Gruesome tests sprang up to detect witches. The accused might be lashed to a stool, or simply bound, and cast into the water. If she sank, she was innocent. But if she floated—most, but not all witches were female—she was guilty and would be executed. Anyone who had fallen into severe disfavor was liable to be branded a witch, including Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s ill-starred mother.

Drake had formed an alliance with escaped African slaves in Panama known as the Cimarron people. Their congenial name might have come from the Spanish word cimarrón, or “wild,” referring to runaways.