Today in 1579 Francis Drake claimed a place he called New Albion – which we call California – for England. Drake’s landing site is known today as Point Reyes. After successfully sacking Spanish towns and plundering Spanish ships along their eastern Pacific coast colonies, Drake sought safe harbor to prepare his ship, Golden Hind, for circumnavigation back to England. He found it today in 1579, when he and his crew landed on the Pacific coast at what is now Point Reyes in Northern California.
While encamped there, he had friendly relations with the Coast Miwok people who lived in the area near his landing. Naming the area Nova Albion, or New Albion, he claimed sovereignty of the area for Queen Elizabeth I, an act that would later justify English expansion across the North American continent. Sailing away on 23 July and leaving behind no colony, Drake eventually circumnavigated the globe and returned to England in September 1580.
Over the years, numerous speculative sites along the North American Pacific coast were investigated as the area of Drake’s New Albion claim. Through the following centuries, various cartographers and mariners identified the area near Point Reyes as Drake’s likely landing place. In the 20th and 21st centuries, definitive evidence was gathered, particularly regarding Drake’s contact with the Coast Miwok people and porcelain shards which were established to be remnants of Drake’s cargo.
The various avenues of research led to the United States Department of the Interior formally recognizing Drake’s landing point to be at Point Reyes, giving it a National Historic Landmark designation in October 2012.
That’s your Tudor Minute for today. Remember you can dive deeper into life in 16th century England through the Renaissance English History Podcast at englandcast.com.
Suggested links:
Tony Riches in the Tudor Learning Circle talking about Francis Drake
Episode 31: Trade and Exploration in the 16th century
From my shop:
Old Map 1000-Piece Jigsaw Puzzle
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Heather Teysko is the creator, writer, and producer of The Renaissance English History Podcast, one of the longest running indie history podcasts, going since 2009. She's been writing about history online for over 25 years, since her first site on Colonial American history became number one in history on Yahoo in 1998. She writes books, created the original Tudor Planner (a yearly diary filled with Tudor history) and in 2019 created the world's first Tudorcon (you can "attend" online this year!). She has been passionate about Tudor England since she first read Alison Weir's The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20 years ago, and subsequently moved to London after college to spend her time immersed in Tudor history.