Trade with the East, including first contacts with India
Trade with the East
English merchants were the driving force behind trade with the East. They were less interested in American colonies and more interested in spices like pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Spices were very important to the Elizabethans, as they were used to preserve meat and the prices charged by middlemen on the overland routes were high.
Europeans wanted a direct sea route to the East so that they could buy spices from China, India and the East Indies.
Francis Drake was the first English sailor to To travel all the way around the circumference, of the world. the Earth, and came back to England with a valuable cargo of spices. Like the Spanish and Portuguese, he sailed around Africa, which was a dangerous route. English sailors hoped to find another route by going north - the so-called North-West Passage.
The search for the North West Passage was dangerous - and unsuccessful.
Martin Frobisher (1535-1594) tried to reach China by going round North America. He reached the Arctic and was driven back by snow and ice.
Humphrey Gilbert (1539-1583) also believed that there was a route around North America. His ship was hit by storms and he never returned.
John Davis (1550-1605) made three separate voyages looking for a northern route to China. Like Frobisher, he was driven back by the cold weather.
Success
Although Francis Drake had reached the East Indies, the first person who established trade with the Spice Islands was James Lancaster. He took the southern route around Africa (capturing Portuguese trading ships along the way) and reached the East Indies, where he bought spices and valuable dyes used in the woollen industry. When he came back, the East India Company was set up to attract investors and in 1600, Lancaster took the first of the Company's fleets to modern day Indonesia. He met with local leaders and made alliances and set up trading posts.
The East India Company grew under later monarchs and became very important and prosperous.
First contact with India
Although the East India Company was set up to trade with South East Asia (the 'East Indies'), it eventually traded more with India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).
One of the first English sailors to visit India was Ralph Fitch. He was a merchant who spent eight years travelling around the Middle East, India and Burma.
He was one of the first English travellers to visit Mesopotamia and Persia (modern day Iraq and Iran), and he travelled to Aleppo in Syria and Tripoli in Libya with the Levant Company on a ship called the Tyger. From there, he went to India, where he saw 'salt, opium, hinge (asafoetida, a spice), lead, carpets and diverse other commodities' being traded.
He came back in 1597, and in 1598 he published a book about his travels - and mentioned how rich India was. The English merchants were keen to get access to this valuable market.
The East India Company didn't start trading out of India until 1608, after Elizabeth's death, but the foundations for the trade with India were laid during her reign. The first Indian trading point was set up in Surat, in the Gujarat region. Ralph Fitch remained a valued advisor to Lancaster and the Company about Indian matters.