Sir Francis Drake c.1540 - c.1596

Drake became quite famous for his achievements in battle and his journeys. However, he was not as famous as someone like David Beckham is today. This was because in Tudor times there were no newspapers so information travelled by word of mouth. It would only be people in court circles or with links to London who would ever have heard of him. An awful lot of people in these times had no idea who their king/queen was until they had reigned for several years.

Drake was an adventurer, navigator, politician, engineer and landowner, and a sailor, not to mention a very good pirate! In 1572 he raided Panama returning with around £20,000 - that would be millions in today's money!

Backed by Queen Elizabeth I he became the first Englishman to sail around the World. He began in 1577 and returned in 1580. It was said that Drake introduced tobacco and potatoes into England!

Sir Walter Raleigh c.1552 - 1618

In those times there were many spellings for his name including, "Ralegh", "Rawleigh" and the most popular, "Rawley". He is not known to have used the modern way to spell his name.

Raleigh had dreams of discovering new countries and so he organised many expeditions to America, unfortunately many of his journeys failed. Raleigh became a favourite of the Queen in gratitude for his services to her.

His ships often brought back a lot of gold from countries and ports across the world.

In 1592 Drake married one of Queen Elizabeth's maids without her permission. Elizabeth was very fond of Raleigh and was so angry she sent him to the Tower of London for a while. Do you think Queen Elizabeth was jealous?

Christopher Columbus c.1451 - 1506

Columbus was an Italian born explorer and sailor. He was backed by Spain to discover new lands and riches; he became one of the most famous explorers in history.

Columbus was trying to find another way to India to trade spices. He knew that the world was round so he decided to go west instead of east thinking he would get to India more quickly and easily.

He did not realise that there was a huge country in his way! In 1492 he landed on the east coast of America. Columbus thought he was in India so when he saw the Native Americans, he called them 'Indians'.

John Cabot c.1450 - 1498

Cabot was helped by the first king of the Tudor period, Henry VII. He gave Cabot money and ships to try and find China and to begin trading.

Just like Columbus had done, Cabot sailed west across the ocean to reach the east. Just like Columbus he found there was a rather large country in the way!

In 1497 he landed somewhere near Newfoundland, Canada and claimed the country for England. Cabot was the first European to sail all the way to North America since the Vikings!