|
New Albion, also known as Nova Albion, was the name of all North America north of Mexico, from "sea to sea," claimed by Sir Francis Drake for England in 1579. The extent of New Albion and the location of Drake's port have long been debated by historians, with most believing that he came ashore in the Bay Area on the coast of northern California. ''Albion'', "the white", is an archaic name for the island of Great Britain. The name refers to the White Cliffs of Dover. ==History== During his circumnavigation of the globe (1577–1580), in which he was ordered to destroy the Spanish flotillas in the New World and plunder settlements, Sir Francis Drake landed on the western coast of North America in his galleon, the ''Golden Hind'', and claimed the area for Queen Elizabeth I as New Albion. Along with Martin Frobisher's claims in Greenland and Baffin Island and Drake's claims at the tip of South America, New Albion was one of the earliest English territorial claims in the New World. Like Humphrey Gilbert's 1583 claim of Newfoundland, it was followed up by settlement of the Roanoke Colony in 1584, then by Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Assertions that Drake left some of his men behind as an embryo "colony" in California are based merely on the reduced number who were with him in the Moluccas.〔Dismissed by John Cummins, ''Francis Drake: The Lives of a Hero'' 1997:118: "In view of the prominence given in different versions to the crowning of Drake it would be odd if the establishment of a colony had gone unrecorded."〕 The western coast of North America had been partially explored in 1542 by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo who sailed for the Spanish, but as England was in conflict with Spain, Drake decided to claim the rest of North America that Spain did not control. Wherever his actual landing place was, it was well north of San Diego Bay where Cabrillo had asserted Spain's claim. Drake explored the coasts around his port by ship for some time as well as the surrounding land on foot. Upon his return to England on 4 April 1581, Francis Drake was knighted by the French Ambassador on behalf of Queen Elizabeth I for his deeds against the Spanish during the circumnavigational voyage. However, in order to keep an uneasy peace with Spain, and to avoid having Spain threaten England's other claims in the New World, Drake's logs, charts, and other writings were confiscated. Thus, the discovery and claim on New Albion was ordered by the Queen to be considered a state secret. Drake and his crew were sworn to silence on pain of death. Only years later, after England's destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588 (in which Drake played a significant role), did Queen Elizabeth allow an official account of Drake's voyage by Richard Hakluyt to be published. However, Drake was uneasy with inaccuracies in the published accounts of his voyages, and in 1592, he wrote to Queen Elizabeth in reference to "the certain truth concealed, as I have thought it necessary myself" and requested that the accounts be rewritten accordingly. The Queen denied his request. An account of the voyage, said to be based on the notes of his chaplain, Francis Fletcher, including many details of New Albion was published in 1628 by Drake's nephew and namesake.〔( The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, being his next voyage to that to Nombre de Dios formerly imprinted, 1628 )〕 After Elizabeth's death, maps began to mark the area of North America above Mexico and New Mexico as ''Nova Albion,'' although the location of Drake's Port greatly differs among maps. However, Drake's claiming land on the Pacific coast became the legal basis for subsequent colonial charters issued by English monarchs that purported to grant lands from "sea to sea" (''i.e.'', from the Atlantic where English colonies were first settled, to the Pacific). However, despite these claims, the English did not establish a colonizing presence on the west coast of North America until the late 18th century in the form of the explorations and asserted claims of Captains Cook and Vancouver and the associated Nootka Conventions. Soon afterwards, the Columbia Fur District of the Hudson's Bay Company and its headquarters at Fort Vancouver were established. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「New Albion」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|