English buccaneer and explorer Francis Drake (c. 1545-1596) enriched himself by raiding Spanish interests in the Caribbean before embarking on a voyage to the Pacific that became the second circumnavigation of the globe.
Further raids on Spanish positions in the Caribbean (1585—86) and Cadiz (1587) preceded a significant role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588) and led an expedition to Lisbon (1589).
After a spell in Parliament, he resumed his privateering career in the West Indies in 1595. Although his party captured Nombre de Dios on Panama's northern coast, they failed to take Panama City. Drake died of dysentery off the coast of Panama in January 1596.