New Albion
New Albion, also known as Nova Albion, was the name of the continental area north of Mexico claimed by Sir Francis Drake for England when he landed on the North American west coast in 1579. This claim became the justification for English charters across America to the Atlantic coast and soon influenced further national expansion projects on the continent. Drake's landing site has been identified as Drake's Cove, which is part of Point Reyes National Seashore.
Drake, after successfully sacking Spanish towns and plundering Spanish ships along their eastern Pacific coast colonies, sought safe harbour to prepare his ship, Golden Hind, for circumnavigation back to England. He found it on 17 June 1579, when he and his crew landed on the Pacific coast at Drakes Bay in Northern California. While encamped there, he had friendly relations with the Coast Miwok people who inhabited the area near his landing. Naming the area Nova Albion, or New Albion, he claimed sovereignty of the area for Queen Elizabeth I, an act which would have significant long-term historical consequences. Sailing away on 23 July and leaving behind no colony, Drake eventually circumnavigated the globe and returned to England in September 1580.
Over the years, numerous speculative sites along the North American Pacific coast were investigated as the area of Drake's New Albion claim. Through the following centuries, various cartographers and mariners identified the area near Point Reyes as Drake's likely landing place. In the 20th and 21st centuries, definitive evidence was gathered, particularly regarding Drake's contact with the Coast Miwok people and porcelain shards which were established to be remnants of Drake's cargo. The various avenues of research led to a National Historic Landmark designation by the United States Department of the Interior in October 2012 and a California Historical Landmark designation by California State Parks in October 2021.
Drake's voyage
Background
In the late 1500s, a cold war existed between England and Spain—one which involved religious differences, economic pressure, and emerging navigational and colonisation desires. As part of this, Sir Francis Drake developed a plan to plunder Spanish colonial settlements on the Pacific Coast of the New World. Gathering several investors, and likely with the backing of Queen Elizabeth I—which may have been in the form of a secret commission as a privateer—Drake embarked upon the voyage on 15 November 1577. Even though Drake's actions would damage England's relations with Spain's King Philip II, Drake understood he could rely upon Queen Elizabeth's support.After successfully taking considerable amounts of treasure from Spanish towns and ships along King Philip's eastern Pacific coast colonies, Drake sailed north to seek a shortcut back to England via the hypothetical Strait of Anián, a supposedly navigable shortcut connecting the Pacific and Atlantic. The strait, a fanciful idea similar to the Fountain of Youth, was speculated to exist at about 40 degrees north. Although Drake may have possibly reached a latitude as high as 48 degrees, his northward progress was ultimately stopped by foul weather in the northeast trade winds belt. Upon failing to locate the strait, Drake sought safe harbour to ready his ship, Golden Hind, before attempting a circumnavigation of the globe to return home.
Drake's coastal exploration and claim
Prior to Drake's voyage, the western coast of North America had only been partially explored in 1542 by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, who sailed for Spain. So, intending to avoid further conflict with Spain, Drake navigated northwest of the Spanish presence. By navigating well beyond where Cabrillo had asserted a Spanish claim, Drake sought to locate a discreet site at which the crew could prepare for the journey back to England.On 5 June 1579, the ship briefly made first landfall at South Cove, Cape Arago, just south of Coos Bay, Oregon. From there, Drake sailed south while searching for a suitable harbour to repair his ailing ship. On 17 June, Drake and his crew found a protected cove when they landed on the Pacific coast of what is now Northern California. While ashore, he claimed the area for Queen Elizabeth I as Nova Albion or New Albion, choosing this name for two reasons: first, the white banks and cliffs which he saw were similar to those found on the English coast and, second, because Albion was an archaic name by which the island of Great Britain was known. To document and assert his claim, Drake had an engraved plate of brass, one which contained a sixpence bearing Elizabeth's image, attached to a large post. Giving details of Drake's visit, it claimed sovereignty for Elizabeth and every successive English monarch.
After erecting a fort and tents ashore, the crew laboured for several weeks as they prepared for the circumnavigating voyage ahead by careening their ship, Golden Hind, so to effectively clean and repair the hull. Drake had friendly interactions with the Coast Miwok and explored the surrounding land by foot when crossing Inverness Ridge to visit a village and explore the country. When his ship was ready for the return voyage, Drake and the crew left New Albion on 23 July and paused his journey the next day when anchoring his ship at the Farallon Islands where the crew hunted seal meat. On 25 July, they sailed west to continue their Pacific crossing, and Golden Hind finally returned to England in September 1580.
English response
Drake's circumnavigation began a period of British maritime dominance that lasted until the 20th century, and as a result of his successful deeds against Spain, Drake was admired and celebrated by many in England. According to John Stow, Drake's "name and fame became admirable in all places, the people swarming daily in the streets to behold him, vowing hatred of all that durst mislike him." Not only were his investors and the queen richly rewarded, Drake was also allowed to keep £24,000 of the purloined treasure for himself and his crew. Drake quickly became a favorite at the queen's court and was knighted by the French ambassador on her behalf.To allow for disinformation and create an illusory threat that Drake had discovered a short route from the Pacific to Europe, details of the voyage were initially suppressed; Drake's sailors were pledged not to disclose their route under threat of death. Upon his return, Drake handed over his log and a large map to the queen. While the other items disappeared, the map, known as the Queen's Map, remained on limited view for a number of years. Finally, it too was lost in the Whitehall Palace fire of 1698. However, around 1590 Jodocus Hondius composed a derivative of this map, known as Vera Totius Expeditionis Navticae. This map shows Drake's journey and includes an inset of the harbor at Nova Albion. In 1589, further details emerged when an official account of Drake's circumnavigating voyage by Richard Hakluyt was published. In 1628, Drake's nephew and namesake, Sir Francis Drake, 1st Baronet, published The World Encompassed. This comprehensive account of the voyage, which is based on the notes of Drake's chaplain Francis Fletcher, includes numerous details of New Albion and is the most extensive account of Drake's voyage.
Because the extent of Drake's New Albion was vague—essentially a classification of the territory north and west of Spanish territory—the designated location differs among maps. After Elizabeth's death in 1603, maps began to depict the area of North America above Mexico as Nova Albion. Drake's claim of land on the Pacific coast for England became a basis which influenced subsequent colonial charters issued by English monarchs that purported to grant lands from sea to sea, the area from the Atlantic where English colonies were first established all the way to the Pacific. Along with Martin Frobisher's claims in Greenland and Baffin Island and Humphrey Gilbert's 1583 claim of Newfoundland, New Albion was one of the earliest English territorial claims in the New World. These claims were eventually followed by settlement of the Roanoke Colony in 1584, and Jamestown in 1607.
The people and the land
By using detailed descriptions of the people encountered by Drake—particularly their houses, feathered baskets, ceremonies, and language—anthropologists have clearly identified the people as Coast Miwok, a people whose traditional homeland included the Point Reyes area in what is now present-day Marin County, California.When Drake landed his crew, the Coast Miwok people initially approached his encampment while armed with bows and arrows, uncertainly cautious regarding the newcomers. But Drake quickly allayed their suspicions, and multitudes of unarmed Miwok soon visited his encampment on a daily basis. In their early encounters with the Coast Miwok, Drake's crew observed as the Miwok wailed and engaged in self-laceration. Drake misinterpreted this response as an act of worship and concluded that the people believed him and his crew to be gods; however, this Miwok custom was actually one of mourning. Most likely the Miwok regarded the English visitors as relatives who had returned from the dead.
In a particularly significant gesture, one day a large assembly of Coast Miwok descended on the encampment and honored Drake by placing chains around his neck, a sceptre in his hand, and a crown of feathers on his head as if he were being proclaimed king. Upon this uncertain, seemingly voluntary surrender of sovereignty by its owners, England based its presumed legal authority to the territory.
After gaining the Coast Miwoks' trust, Drake journeyed to explore the inland area and visit their villages. Accompanied by crew members, Drake trekked on a Coast Miwok trail to traverse the Inverness Ridge and descend into what is now the Olema Valley. Fletcher described the village structures there as round subterranean buildings which came together at the top like spires on a steeple. Fletcher also described the Coast Miwok baskets as water-tight, shaped like a deep bowl, and covered with a matted layer of colored feathers. Such baskets were made only by the Coast Miwok, Pomo, Lake Miwok, Patwin, and Wappo peoples who were all concentrated near Drake's landing site.
Additionally, Fletcher was the first person to make a written record of any of the 64 distinct language groups in prehistoric California, namely five specific Coast Miwok words: Hioh, Gnaah, Huchee kecharo, Nacharo mu, and Cheepe. These words noted by Fletcher are from a distinct language group, and Heizer wrote that they were unquestionably of Coast Miwok derivation, linguistic proof of Drake's contact with the Coast Miwok. Overall, the relations between the Coast Miwok and their visitors were peaceful and friendly, and the Miwok seemed to exhibit distress when Golden Hind sailed away.
Fletcher also recorded climate information and characterised the unpleasant summer weather conditions of the area near the careenage basin. He noted the continuous nipping chill; lack of sun; and cold, sometimes violent, winds. In contrast, across the Inverness Ridge, he found a distinct climate variance and experienced a flourishing land. Fletcher assessed the area: "The inland we found to be farre different from the shoare, a goodly country and fruitful soyle, stored with many blessings fit for the use of man".
Fletcher also chronicled his observation of certain animals unknown to the English and described them as "very large and fat Deere" and "a multitude of a strange kinde of Conies." The "fat Deere" were most likely Roosevelt elk, and the conies are identified as gophers. These and the rest of Fletcher's assessments and observations of New Albion are flawlessly in concert with the geography of Point Reyes.