Elizabeth 1 (1558-1603) This was a time of great social and
cultural change in England. There were rich new developments in
literature, sciences, medicine and the arts. England was sending
increasing numbers of ships to voyage overseas into unknown
areas. Sea captains like Drake and Hawkins took every
opportunity to capture the ships of other countries, especially
those of Spain and Portugal. These men may have been seen as
pirates or profiteers, depending which side you were on. The
Queen did little to stop them. So when the idea of a company
trading with the East was first put to Elizabeth I she
hesitated. She knew what her seamen were like and thought they
might attack traders from other countries, especially the
Portuguese and Dutch who were England's main rivals. But, on 31
December 1600 she gave a charter to The Company of Merchants in
the City of London, granting them a monopoly of all English
trade in Asia and the Pacific. This meant that no other English
company or people were allowed to trade in tha