Introduction:
As well as great inventors the tudors were also great explorers they brought the potatato and tobbaco to england! and discovered that starch makes fabric stiff! read all about some of their best discoverys on this page!
Discovery of the Americas:
In 1492 during the reign of Henry the seventh just seventeen years before Henry the eighth became king a man called Christopher Columbus discovered america by accident while trying to find an alternate route to Asia for trading purposes. Actually, America had already been discored by the Vikings hundreds of years before so peaple had already lived there and were still livng there when the discovered it! With the discovery of North and South America, new crops and animals were introduced to Europe, such as the potato, tobacco, and corn, The natives, such as the Aztecs, the Mayans, the Incans, and the Native Americans, taught the settlers how to survive by growing the new crops. In return, they were slaughtered by guns and deadly illnesses like smallpox that most Europeans had built up a sort of immunity against and had unknowingly brought with them.
The Potato and Tobbaco:
Sir Walter Raleigh was born in 1554 in Devon, and was one of Elizabeth I's favourite courtiers. He was also a poet and a fearless soldier. He led many expeditions to America and introduced tobacco and the potato into England. He chose the name of the first English colony in America. He named it Virginia after Queen Elizabeth.
That Starch makes fabric stiff:
Starch was discovered to be a new way to make fabric stiff. Consequently the fashions went a bit mad with huge ruffs around necks that might stick out further than the persons shoulders!
Circumnavigation:
The first European to circumnavigate (or go around the world) was Magellan, but the first Englishman was Sir Francis Drake, a famous English pirate (or sea dog), and one of the people who would help fight the Spanish Armada. His trip around the world by boat took place during the reign of Elizabeth I. It took three years, and he landed successfully in England in 1580, loaded with stolen Spanish gold. His boat was renamed the "Golden Hind" and he was knighted by the queen.