Episode 13 Arrival of the British (II)
April 9, 2025
In our previous discussion about the Americas, it may seem that only Spaniards were busy having fun there. Some of you may wonder, wasn’t the United States of America built upon the British colonies? The land of America seemed so busy with activities already—where were the British?
Well, even though the British are known for their punctuality, they were embarrassingly late in carving up the land of America. In fact, it wasn’t until 1607, over a century after Columbus’s arrival in the Americas in 1492, that the British set up a rather small and tenuous colony in North America.
一
During the first half of the 16th century, before 1580 to be more precise, the British engaged in only three activities that were related to the Americas.
The first was in 1497 when King Henry VII funded John Cabot’s voyage to explore North America. It is believed that he arrived in what is now Newfoundland in Canada. Little is known about his trip, other than that he didn’t find gold, nor did he bring back many slaves. Henry VII did the math and concluded that this was not a worthy business, therefore there was no follow up.
The second was to join forces with France and Holland to raid Spanish treasure fleet on the sea. They had one common name – Pirates of the Caribbean. As for how much they looted, that remains a mystery to this day.
The last one was the human trafficking business led by Admiral Hawkins. They traded slaves without any guilt in the so-called triangular route, as we discussed before. Truth be told, the last two activities were rather despicable, especially the latter, which deserved to be condemned for thousands of years to come.
二
Among the most well-known British Privateers was Sir Walter Raleigh. He was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, very handsome, and skilled in many subjects including literature, art, science, and politics.
According to historical records, once during an audience with the Queen, he presented a theory to Her Majesty, which was: “whoever commands the sea, commands the trade. Whoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself”. A very strategic and powerful statement.
Many modern scholars agree that his statement was the basis for the “Sea Power Theory”. The visionary and ambitious Queen Elizabeth I fully concurred with him and began strengthening the British navy, this, in turn, laid a strong foundation for building England into the world’s first empire, on which the sun never sets.
Allow me a slight digression here: if you think thoroughly about what Sir Raleigh said, you will understand why the South China sea is of such vital importance to today’s China.
In 1584, Sir Raleigh arrived somewhere on the east coast of the North America. The place looked quite appealing to him. After scanning the area and finding no Spaniards or Dutch, he planted a British flag on the ground and declared the land to be Britain’s from then on. Why did he check for Spaniards and Dutch first? Because Britain wasn’t strong enough to face these two countries at that time—or, in other words, was a bit scared of them.
Raileigh named this new land Virginia, which later became the state of Virginia in the U.S.
It was a smart and fitting name. First, it sounded phonetically similar to what the Native Americans called the area. Secondly, it literally meant “virgin land” implying it was a land not yet explored and awaiting exploration by us British. Moreover, it had a hidden meaning: Queen Elizabeth I was a rich, beautiful, and powerful lady who vowed to remain single and a virgin. Therefore, ‘Virginia” is often considered a name given in honor of the Virgin Queen.
3 years later, in 1587, Raleigh established a small colony on Roanoke Island, Virginia. 117 people, willing to settle in America, made their home there.
However, in the following year, 1588, the life-and-death naval battle between England and Spain broke out. As an admiral of the royal navy, Sir Raileigh naturally took his fleet back to fight the Spaniards.
Two years later, he returned to the island with the glory of defeating the Spanish Armada, only to encounter a mysterious event:
According to eyewitness accounts, this is what happened. One of Raleigh’s men, John White, went back first to the island. As he got closer, he saw smoke rising from it. In ancient times, smoke was a universal alarm signal.
He rushed to the island only to find all the doors were open, candles were lit in the dining tables, food was cooking on the stove, it was obvious people were getting ready for dinner, but all living things had vanished. More than 100 residents, their pets and domestic animals, had all disappeared.
The only lead was an English word carved into a tree outside the village
This event became known in history as the “Lost Colony of Roanoke”.
It remained an unsolved mystery to today. Many historians and explorers had combed through all kinds of documents and records, but no one knows where the residents went and what happened to them.
Traumatized by this mysterious event, Raleigh gave up his adventure in North America and returned to England. In 1618, he was accused of treason and sentenced to the scaffold by King James I, the successor to Queen Elizabeth I.
It is said before his execution, he looked at the shining blade in the hand of the executioner and uttered his famous final words: “This is a sharp medicine, but it is a physician for all diseases’. It takes quite a man to remain so calm in the face of death.
三
After Raileigh, Britain began organizing and scaling up its exploration of the America. The first company aiming to make money in North America was founded in 1606: the Virginia company.
Due to various reasons, it was soon split into two parts, Virginia Company of London and Virginia Company of Plymouth. If you read in a book that the first successful British colony was established by a London company, you should know the author is referring to the Virginia Company of London.
The new company quickly obtained a license from King James I to establish settlements. You have to admire the British for their habit of following protocol rigidly, no matter what. Even if they were heading to a place the King had no idea about, they would still go through the legal process to obtain lawful documents.
But if these gentlemen were asked the questions like: were there residents in the land before? Did they agree with your plan—the gentlemen might blush but they would not hesitate to continue with their business. The underlying thought was: If I can force you to move, then the license from my king is the ultimatum. If I can’t overpower you, I’ll just find another piece of land to conquer.
There were three clear targets for the new company:
The First was to continue searching for a route to Asia across America. This was a target that had been embedded in their minds for over 100 years.
The second was to look for gold mine. This goes without saying—everyone on Earth is aware of the value of gold.
The third was to establish a colony in North America. It’s an understandable thought. Central and South America were already claimed by Portugal and Spain, and Canada to the north was under the control of France and the Netherlands. While North American didn’t seem to have fertile farming land or plenty of hides, if they didn’t act soon, there would be nothing left for the British.
A seemingly small event worth mentioning: while the British adventures were busy obtaining licenses to explore land and buy firearms in the Americas, on the distant India-Asia continent, the East India Company was also founded.
This company brought a drink from China to Europe. It was a very special drink. It looked like dry tree leaves, but once immersed in hot water, it turned the water into a very pleasing drink. Soon, it became very popular with Europeans and was called “Magical Oriental Tree Leaf”.
Of course, you know in China, it’s called tea. In the early phases, the tea exported to Europe was mainly Oolong tea and black tea. Black tea was particularly favored by English aristocrats. To this today, a formal English afternoon tea is mostly served with black tea.
But it was this tea that later triggered the American Independence War. This was probably something that the East India Company could have never imagined happening.
To be continued.