Existing comment:
How Virginia Got Its Name
Elizabeth I (1533–1603), queen of England, never married. Englishmen named their dream of an empire in the New World after her, their virgin queen. Elizabeth's elder sister, Mary I, had lost England's last possession on the continent, Calais, in France. During Elizabeth's reign Englishmen turned their eyes to the New World. The first English attempts to colonize North America were made under her patronage.
Until Queen Elizabeth I's reign, the English showed little interest in exploration, being occupied instead with their European trade and establishing control over the British Isles. |