Narratives About Sir Francis Drake

The book reveals the effects of piracy in discussions about the legitimacy of the Spanish conquest of America. Francis Drake personified the colonialist rivalry between Spain and England; therefore, Spain attacked him as best it could in many different kinds of texts, including literary ones. On the British side, consciously or not, the colonialist project sought to counter the attacks by appropriating the arguments given by Spanish literature. Indeed, as the author demonstrates, both Spanish and English colonialist propaganda used similar images of Drake.