Battle of Cartagena de Indias (1586)
The Battle of Cartagena de Indias (1586) or the Capture of Cartagena de Indias was a military and naval action fought on 9–11 February 1586, of the recently declared Anglo-Spanish War that resulted in the assault and capture by English soldiers and sailors of the Spanish colony city of Cartagena de Indias governed by Pedro de Bustos on the Spanish Main. The English were led by Francis Drake. The raid was part of his Great Expedition to the Spanish New World. The English soldiers then occupied the city for over two months and captured much booty along with a ransom before departing on 12 April.
Sir Francis Drake in Cartagena de Indias 1585. From a hand-colored engraving, by Baptista Boazio, 1589
An English officer of Pikemen
Present-day walls of old Cartagena de las Indias
'Drake house' in Cartagena; Drake used this as his headquarters during the brief occupation in 1586
Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)
The Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) was an intermittent conflict between the Habsburg Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of England that was never formally declared. It began with England's military expedition in 1585 to what was then the Spanish Netherlands under the command of the Earl of Leicester, in support of the Dutch rebellion against Spanish Habsburg rule.
English ships and the Spanish Armada, 8 August 1588, unknown artist
Philip II of Spain
Elizabeth I of England
Siege of Grave in 1586