After John Cabot's trip to North America in the early 1500s, it was nearly a full century before England began any real attempt at colonizing America....

England
underwent a time of internal religious strife as Henry VIII left the Roman Catholic Church in
order to start the Church of England. This led to the persecution of Catholics and seizure of
church lands. It was not until Elizabeth I took the throne that England enjoyed a time of
relative internal stability.

The most important event that allowed England
to start and expand its maritime empire was the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
English pirates had long preyed on Spanish treasure galleons coming from the New World. The
armada was used as a potential tool so that Spain could restore England back to being ruled by
Roman Catholicism. Due to the bravery of Sir Francis Drake and a major storm, the Spanish Armada
was destroyed. With this rival removed, England could focus on collecting raw materials from the
New World such as timber in order to build its fledgling navy. This navy allowed Britain to
control the world's shipping lanes for over three hundred years. The British...