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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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John Hawkins
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(1532–95, kt 1588) The first English *slave trader, making three expeditions from Africa to the Caribbean in the 1560s. The last, in 1567–8, provoked the first of England's major naval confrontations with Spain. Of six ships in the expedition, the Spanish destroyed four; only those commanded by Hawkins and his younger kinsman, Francis *Drake, returned. From 1577 Hawkins was treasurer of the navy, and in that capacity greatly improved the fleet in time for the *Armada (in which campaign he commanded the Victory). He died two months before Drake, on an expedition which they had undertaken together to raid the Spanish West Indies.
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