For now at last, after many years of hesitation, the English
as well as the Dutch thought it their good right to invade
the Indies and America and avenge the ills which their Protes-
tent brethren had suffered at the hands of the Spaniards. The
English had been among the earliest successors of Columbus.
British ships, commanded by the Venetian pilot Giovanni Caboto
(or Cabot), had been the first to discover and explore the
northern American continent in 1496. Labrador and Newfoundland
were of little importance as a possible colony. But
the banks of Newfoundland offered a rich reward to the
English fishing fleet. A year later, in 1497, the same Cabot
had explored the coast of Florida.
Then had come the busy years of Henry VII and Henry
VIII when there had been no money for foreign explorations.
But under Elizabeth, with the country at peace and Mary
Stuart in prison, the sailors could leave their harbour without
fear for the fate of those whom they left behind. While Elizabeth
was still a child, Willoughby had ventured to sail past the
North Cape and one of his captains, Richard Chancellor, pushing
further eastward in his quest of a possible road to the Indies,
had reached Archangel, Russia, where he had established
diplomatic and commercial relations with the mysterious rulers
of this distant Muscovite Empire. During the first years of
Elizabeth's rule this voyage had been followed up by many
others.
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