Plymouth
stands between moorland to the north and
the English Channel to the south.
The City forms a
natural border between the county of Devonshire,
and
the county of Cornwall. The origins of Plymouth
can be traced to Saxon
times and its history reflects
its maritime location. Set on a peninsula
at the mouth
of the river Plym, referred to in the Domesday Book
in 1086
as Sudtone, the hub of medieval Plymouth.
The earliest record of cargo
leaving Plymouth dates
from 1211, and for the next two centuries trade
through Plymouth flourished, particularly during
the 100 Years War with
France. In 1572 Sir
Francis Drake became the first Englishman to sail
into the Pacific, and in 1577 he embarked on
the first ever circumnavigation
of the globe. Back in
Plymouth, he masterminded the defeat of the Spanish
Armada in 1588. According to popular legend, he
played bowls on Plymouth
Hoe as the Armada sailed
up the Channel. Drake was responsible also for
the
establishment of England's first colony, at Roanoke in
Virginia,
an act that may be regarded as the origins
of
the British Empire.
Perhaps the most celebrated expedition to leave
Plymouth was that of the Pilgrims,
they set sail for the New World on board the Mayflower in 1620. |
