During the 16th century John Hawkins became one of the first Englishmen to take part in the slave trade. In October 1562 he sailed with three ships from England to the African coast where he bought 300 Africans and some goods. From there, Hawkins sailed to Hispaniola in the West Indies, where he traded his goods and the African slaves for hides, sugar, ginger and pearls for a profit of 12%. Hawkins filled the other ships with hides and items which he sold to Spain. He arrived back in England in September 1563.
Rivalry from Spain greeted Hawkins on his second voyage, the following year, when he was shipping 400 slaves from Africa to Panama. Since Queen Elizabeth had provided his ship, the Jesus of Lubeck, Hawkins argued that he was an armada of the Queen of England. This trip provided Hawkins with 60% profit. On his third trip in 1567, Hawkins, then joined by Sir Francis Drake, came across further opposition when the Spanish sank most of his ships in the Gulf of Mexico. Conflict between the colonising nations was not unusual. |
