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Why did Sir Francis Drake name part of the Pacific coast New Albion?

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Portrait of Sir Francis Drake with a lace ruff collar, mustache, and short curly hair, painted in oil on panel. The background includes his name in gold lettering. — Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake, oil on panel, after an engraving attributed to Jodocus Hondius, c. 1583; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Sir Francis Drake named the region he claimed near present-day San Francisco "New Albion" in 1579 to honor his homeland.1

Albion is the earliest known name for the island of Britain, a term used by ancient Greek geographers that is often translated as "white land," likely in reference to the white chalk cliffs of Dover. By naming the territory New Albion, Drake symbolically extended the reach of the English crown to the Pacific coast, formally taking possession of the land in the name of Queen Elizabeth.21