The document summarizes several notable English explorers in the 15th-16th centuries:
- John Cabot was the first, sailing under the English flag in 1497 and exploring Newfoundland before being lost at sea.
- Francis Drake gained fame by raiding Spanish ships and settlements in the 1570s, becoming the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe.
- Sir Walter Raleigh unsuccessfully established the Roanoke colony in present-day North Carolina and organized further colonial ventures.
- Henry Hudson explored the Arctic and northeastern North America, with geographic features like the Hudson River and Bay named after him.