ABSTRACT
The reign of Queen Elizabeth, 1558–1603, is noted for maritime enterprise. The sea voyages of this reign have a varied significance, a part of which was the entrance of England upon the African slave trade to America and the subsequent beginning of the history of English America. In 1442, Gonsalvez, a Portugese sailor in the service of Prince Henry, the navigator, after skirting along the northwestern coast of Africa, brought to Lisbon with him ten Negro slaves and some gold dust. The Bishop las Casas, Protector of the Indians, recommended to King Charles V of Spain in 1517 that black slaves be substituted for the Indians, claiming at the same time that one Negro could do as much work as four Indians. The man was a representative of the age in which he lived—the heir of English maritime enterprise and the acquisition of wealth which went back to Elizabeth’s grandfather King Henry VII at the close of the 15th century.
