In some accounts of Sir Francis Drake's voyage, in September 1578 he is said to have landed on an island off the tip of South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. Called "Elizabeth Island" in Francis Fletcher's account, it has been identified with Henderson Island, Hornos Island

Hornos Island

Hornos Island is a Chilean island at the southern tip of South America. The island is mostly known for being the location of Cape Horn. It is generally considered South America's southernmost island, but the Diego Ramírez Islands are farther south...

, or Pactolus Bank

Pactolus Bank

Pactolus Bank or Burnham Bank was discovered at and a depth of by Captain W.D. Burnham on the American ship Pactolus on November 6, 1885....

.

It is not to be confused with another Elizabeth Island in the Straits of Magellan, named and claimed by Drake on August 24, 1578

Further confusing the issue, the entire Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...

 archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

 was called the Elizabethides or Elizabeth Islands.

Elizabeth Island is significant as one of the first English territorial claims in the New World. It preceded Drake's claim of New Albion

New Albion

New Albion, also known as Nova Albion, was the name of the region of the Pacific coast of North America explored by Sir Francis Drake and claimed by him for England in 1579...

 in 1579 and Humphrey Gilbert

Humphrey Gilbert

Sir Humphrey Gilbert of Devon in England was a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh. Adventurer, explorer, member of parliament, and soldier, he served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was a pioneer of English colonization in North America and the Plantations of Ireland.-Early life:Gilbert...

's claim of Newfoundland in 1583. Only Martin Frobisher

Martin Frobisher

Sir Martin Frobisher was an English seaman who made three voyages to the New World to look for the Northwest Passage...

's claims in Baffin Island

Baffin Island

Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut is the largest island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the largest island in Canada and the fifth largest island in the world. Its area is and its population is about 11,000...

 and Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...

were earlier.