But they were not all of straw, for that was a period of daring
enterprise, of explorers, sea rovers, and freebooters. Sir Walter
Raleigh planted the first English colony in America, which the maiden
Queen named Virginia, in honor of herself. It proved unsuccessful,
but he said, "I shall live to see it an English nation yet"; and he
did.
Frobisher explored the coasts of Labrador and Greenland. Sir Francis
Drake, who plundered the treasure ships of Spain wherever he found
them, sailed into the Pacific, spent a winter in or near the harbor of
San Francisco, and ended his voyage by circumnavigating the globe.
(See map facing p. 222.) In the Far East, London merchants had
established the East India Company, the beginning of English dominion
in Asia; while in Holland, Sir Philip Sydney gave his lifeblood for
the cause of Protestantism.