ABSTRACT
England, some of them continued to go further afield. Of course, whether they sailed into American and Asian waters or hung around the islands of the Azores, they were often preying on the enemy; but the greater voyages really carried on from the exploits of Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher and their like before 1588, so that they deserve separate treatment here. The journeys of the 1590S followed the tracks already marked out. Now that war had broken out and the susceptibilities of Spain did not have to be regarded any longer, the dangerous and futile attempts to reach Asia by a
northern route were abandoned in favour of following Drake into the South Seas. Asia-the Spice Islands in particular-eontinucd to be the real target, with two ways there available: some went westward, as Drake had done, while others began to find tIle Portuguese route round Africa more promising. There was also another project on the American mainland, again in the hands of Raleigh.
