John Hawkins

Sir John Hawkins (1532-1595 CE) was an Elizabethan mariner, merchant and naval administrator who has the inglorious (if not wholly accurate) record of being England's first slave trader. In the 1560s CE Hawkins trafficked slaves from West Africa on three voyages, taking them across the Atlantic for sale to Spanish colonial settlements in the New World and making huge profits for himself and investors who included the Crown. The mariner was involved in the infamous incident at San Juan de Ulúa off Mexico in 1568 CE which began the increasingly sour relations between England and Spain. Later in his career, Hawkins oversaw reforms in the Royal Navy and the construction of the modern and well-armed ships which helped defeat the Spanish Armada of 1588 CE. Hawkins died of illness in 1595 CE on a voyage to the Caribbean to raid Spanish treasure ships and colonial settlements.