The Queen's Pirate. How Francis Drake Helped Elizabeth I Create the British Empire

The first of its kind full-scale study of the partnership between one of the greatest pirates and Queen Elizabeth — a unique collaboration between a navigator and a monarch that led to the formation of the British Empire. In his work, the renowned historian-biographer and author of popular science books about Magellan and Columbus, Lawrence Bergreen, relies on a multitude of sources, primarily contemporary to the events described. The story of Francis Drake's key voyages in the context of a decisive turning point in British history deepens and expands with the accompaniment of color and black-and-white illustrations and maps.
«Many were convinced that Spain, under the methodical Philip II, would soon invade England and bring the country back into the embrace of the Vatican. Many people in England would welcome such a development, but Elizabeth's strategy and Drake's boldness thwarted this likely outcome and set England, the rest of Europe, and ultimately much of the world on a different path. It was then that England, almost unnoticed in the shadow of Spain and Portugal, shook off the power of Catholicism, and Drake became the catalyst for the great transformation of England from an island nation into the British Empire. Everything Drake achieved through his voyages and especially his pirate raids was done in the name of Elizabeth…» (Lawrence Bergreen)