Commercial Rivalry

• Commercial Rivalry:

  • 1500s: Spain conquered Mexico and Peru providing them with large amounts of gold and silver, tobacco and sugar cane--> sold for huge profit in Europe
  • Britain: Sir Frances Drake voyaged to different parts of the world and discovered new trade routes and lands
• English hostility towards Spain:

  • Spain controlled Netherlands (Trade Embargo)
  • Spain's control of New World also denied English traders to trade as they needed a license from the Spanish Government to do so
• Privateering:

  • English merchants raided Spanish colonies as well as ships to and from the New World
  • 1572: Drake captured £40,000 in Spanish silver
  • Elizabeth encouraged sea beggars to attack Spanish ships
  • 1580: Spanish bankrupt in the Netherlands
• Deteriorating relations:

  • Elizabeth knighted Drake after he circumnavigated the globe and angered Spain in 1581