Baptista Boazio
Map of "The famouse West Indian voyadge" (1589)
Engraving with color
Newberry Library (Ayer *133 .D7 .B66 1589)
View close-up of map

Sir Francis Drake's expedition in 1585-1586 to North America had both strategic and economic motives. He set out from Plymouth to relieve English colonists at the "Virginia" colony which Sir Walter Raleigh had established on Roanoke Island (now North Carolina). On the way, he raided Cartagena (now in Venezuela), destroyed the great Spanish fortress at Santo Domingo, and plundered St. Augustine (now Florida). At Roanoke, he picked up most of the colonists and transported them back to England, bringing to an end England's first attempt at a colony in North America.

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