https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Plymouth

During the 16th century, Plymouth was the home port for a number of successful maritime traders, among them William Hawkins, who made the first English expeditions to West Africa in the 1530s; and his son Sir John Hawkins, who led England’s first foray into the slave trade.

However, Sir Francis Drake, navigator, privateer and vice admiral of the British Royal Navy remains the city’s most famous resident; though born in Tavistock,  he was mayor of Plymouth from 1581 and is credited with bringing fresh water from Dartmoor to the flourishing town by means of an aqueduct now known as Drake’s Leat and developing the Tudor fortifications around Sutton Harbor.

Outside the historic town walls, Plymouth Hoe, meaning high place, remains a wide grass meadow atop cliffs overlooking the natural harbor of Plymouth Sound. According to an enduring national myth, this is the place where Sir Francis Drake insisted on completing his game of bowls to allow wind and tide to change in his favor enabling his defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.

In the early 17th century there were large outline images of the giants Gog and Magog (or Goemagot and Corineus the mythical founder of Cornwall) for a long time cut into the grass of the Hoe, exposing the white limestone beneath.

In 1606 the Plymouth Company  was issued with a royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing settlements on the coast of North America. A few years later, Plymouth was also the departure point of the Mayflower in 1620, aboard which the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for the New World, establishing the second permanent English colony in the United States of America

Plymouth Castle

(From town model in Plymouth Guildhall)

Courtesy Plymouth City Council.