ABSTRACT
The discovery of America turned the Atlantic from the edge of the world into a busy traffic centre; command of the sea routes superseded control of overland roads in deciding the fate of nations; the distant island off the north-western corner of the Eurasian landmass automatically acquired immense possibilities. It was in the sixteenth century that the seeds were sown which were to grow into English seapower and the British Empire. England at large cared little for explorations, and even individuals, whether statesmen or traders, who might have been interested, failed to share in the spirit which in the 1520s was driving Spanish, power across Central and Southern America. Vigorous as the maritime movement of the early Elizabethan age was, two aspects of it foreshadowed achievement rather than accomplished it: writings on the explorations and attempts at settlement. The voyages into distant countries trained a new breed of seamen and laid the foundations of England's maritime ascendancy.
