Timeline |
1566 CE | Sir Francis Drake visited an island off Roanoke, Va., with a ship full of Turkish prisoners. Only half the prisoners were recorded as taken back to England. | |
1573 CE | The first European, Sir Francis Drake sees the Pacific (from Panama). | |
1573 CE | Sir Francis Drake captured a huge shipment of Spanish silver as it was being transported across the Isthmus of Panama. | |
13 Dec 1577 CE | Sir Francis Drake of England set out with five ships on a nearly three-year journey that would take him around the world. His mission was to find Terra Australis and raid their Spanish colonies on the west coast of South America. He returned with a 4,500% profit on his investment. | |
Sep 1578 CE | Francis Drake passes through the Straights of Megellan only to find himself blown significantly southward due to a tremendous storm in the Pacific. This event proved that Tierra del Fuego was separated from any southern continent and the passageway came to be known as the "Drake Passage". | |
1578 CE | Sir Francis Drake renamed his flagship, the Pelican, to the Golden Hind. He ravaged the coasts of Chile and Peru on his way around the world. | |
1579 CE | British explorer Sir Francis Drake lands on the coast of California. | |
26 Sep 1580 CE | Francis Drake returned to Plymouth, England, at the end of his voyage to circumvent the globe. | |
1580 CE | Sir Francis Drake rounded the promontory of what later became Cape Town, South Africa. | |
4 Apr 1581 CE | Frances Drake completed the circumnavigation of the world. | |
1585 CE | Francis Drake attacked the Spanish ports of Vigo and Santo Domingo. English shipping in Spanish ports was then confiscated as a virtual declaration of war by Spain. | |
1585 CE | Sir Francis Drake sailed through the Virgin Islands to plunder Spanish ships. | |
1 Jan 1586 CE | Francis Drake, who left England on a new voyage to America last September, made a surprise attack on the heavily fortified city of Santo Domingo in Hispaniola, forcing the governor to pay a large ransom. | |
1586 CE | Sir Francis Drake lands at Roanoke in Virginia and hears tales of colonists who had survived on soup made from sassafras later returning to England with what may have been the first shipment | |
1587 CE | Pope Sixtus V proclaimed a Catholic crusade for the invasion of England. Philip II prepared an invasion fleet but was interrupted by Francis Drake, who 'singed the king's beard' by burning 10,000 tons of shipping in Cadiz harbor. | |
8 Aug 1588 CE | The Spanish Armada was destroyed. It was shattered around the coasts of the English Isles by an English fleet under the command of Lord Howard of Effingham with the help of Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins, and a violent storm. | |
1589 CE | Francis Drake with 150 ships and 18,000 men failed in his attempt to capture Lisbon. | |
1595 CE | Queen Elizabeth sent Sir Francis Drake to capture treasure from a wrecked Spanish galleon stored at La Forteleza. Drake failed and returned to Panama. | |
28 Jan 1596 CE | English navigator Sir Francis Drake died off the coast of Panama of a fever; he was buried at sea. | |