Elizabethan: Exploration

Question 1

what led Elizabethans to explore?

Answer 1

• Expanding trade
• Private investment
• Improvements in ship design
• The Triangular Trade
• Adventure
• New Technology
• Development of standardised maps

Question 2

why did expanding trade encourage exploration

Answer 2

• trade was expanding quickly in the New World
• English merchants needed new trading opportunities as war with Spain and in Netherlands had severely damaged wool and clothe trades
• vital to find new markets + new products to sell

Question 3

how did private investments encourage exploration

Answer 3

• Private investors, including Elizabeth + courtiers funded many voyages of discovery
• Risky, but rewards could be enormous:
  
  • Spain becoming rich due to silver mines in Peru + export of sugar cane and tobacco
• increased incomes of Crown + nobility

Question 4

what were the 3 main improvements in ship design

Answer 4

• Larger - more stable
• Faster - more manoeuvrable
• Better fire power