What is William Adams?
[[File:WilliamAdams-woodblack-new.svg|thumb|William Adams]] '''William Adams''' (24 September 1564 – 16 May 1620), was an [[English people|English]] [[navigation|navigator]]. He was the first Englishman to visit Japan.<ref>[http://global.britannica.com/biography/William-Adams William Adams.]{{Dead link|date=September 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''</ref> He was born in [[Gillingham, Kent|Gillingham]], [[Kent]], England. William's father died when his at age 12. He apprenticed to a [[shipwright]], and studied [[shipbuilding]], [[astronomy]], and [[navigation]]. He joined the [[Royal Navy]] during [[Anglo-Spanish War]]. He served in the Royal Navy under Sir [[Francis Drake]].<ref>[http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095349933 William Adams (1564—1620) navigator.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160606115712/http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095349933 |date=2016-06-06 }} ''[[Oxford University Press]]''</ref> He became a [[pilot]] for the [[Barbary Company]], a trading company established by Queen [[Elizabeth I of England]]. In 1598, Adams shipped as pilot major with a five-ship fleet.<ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/~hds2/learning/Learning_from_shogun_txt.pdf Learning from Shogun.] ''[[Columbia University]]''</ref> The fleet was owned by a company of [[Rotterdam]] [[merchant]]s ([[Dutch East India Company]]). The fleet went from the isle of [[Texel]], [[North Holland]] to the [[Eastern world]]. ==References== {{Wikisource1911Enc|Adams, William}} {{reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, William}} [[Category:1564 births]] [[Category:1620 deaths]] [[Category:Gillingham, Kent]] [[Category:People from Kent]]