English Exploration, Trade and Collecting

In early sixteenth-century England, the majority of people lived off the land as famers. In contrast, this was for Spain the Age of Exploration. From Columbus on, the development of the Spanish colonies in the Americas brought wealth and profit to Spain. But all this was to change over the next one hundred years. By the beginning of the 1600s, England had advanced dramatically. With the growth of its cities, population and both industry and trade, it became an increasingly powerful country with economic interests in both Europe and the Americas. Over the next three hundred years, England was to become a global empire.