Editing Roanoke Colony (section)

==Background==
[[File:Girolamo de Verrazzano's 1529 map of the East Coast of America.jpg|thumb|A 1529 map depicting "Verazzano's Sea" extending from the North Atlantic to the Outer Banks]]

The [[Outer Banks]] were explored in 1524 by [[Giovanni da Verrazzano]], who mistook [[Pamlico Sound]] for the Pacific Ocean, and concluded that the barrier islands were an [[isthmus]]. Recognizing this as a potential shortcut to [[Ming China|China]], he presented his findings to King [[Francis I of France]] and King [[Henry VIII]] of England, neither of whom pursued the matter.{{Sfn|Lawler|2018|pp=17–19}}

In 1578, [[Queen Elizabeth I]] granted a charter to Sir [[Humphrey Gilbert]] to explore and colonize territories "unclaimed by Christian kingdoms".{{Sfn|Lawler|2018|pp=27–28}} Gilbert had helped to crush the first of the [[Desmond Rebellions]] in [[Munster|Ireland's Munster]] province in the early 1570s. The terms of the charter granted by the Queen were vague, although Gilbert understood it to give him rights to all territory in the [[New World]] north of [[Spanish Florida]].{{Sfn|Quinn|1985|p= 5}} Led by Gilbert, the English briefly claimed [[St. John's, Newfoundland]], in 1583, as the first English territory in North America at the royal prerogative of Queen [[Elizabeth I]], but Gilbert was lost at sea on his return journey to England.

Following Gilbert's death in 1583,{{Sfn|Lawler|2018|p=30}} Queen Elizabeth divided the charter between his brother Adrian Gilbert, and his half-brother Sir [[Walter Raleigh]]. Adrian's charter gave him the [[Land patent|patent]] on [[Newfoundland]] and all points north, where geographers expected to eventually find a long-sought [[Northwest Passage]] to Asia. Raleigh was awarded the lands to the south, though much of it was already claimed by [[Spanish Empire|Spain]].{{Sfn|Lawler|2018|p=33}} [[Richard Hakluyt]], however, had by this time taken notice of Verazzano's "isthmus" – located within Raleigh's claim – and was campaigning for England to capitalize on the opportunity.{{Sfn|Lawler|2018|pp=31–33}}

Raleigh's charter, issued on March 25, 1584, specified that he needed to establish a colony by 1591, or lose his right to colonization.{{Sfn|Quinn|1985|p= 9}} He was to "discover, search, find out, and view such remote heathen and barbarous Lands, Countries, and territories ... to have, hold, occupy, and enjoy".<ref name="Elizabeth 1584">{{cite book |author=Elizabeth I |author-link=Elizabeth I of England |chapter=The letters patents, granted by the Queenes Majestie to M. Walter Ralegh now Knight, for the discouering and planting of new lands and Countries, to continue the space of 6. yeeres and no more. |editor-last1=Hakluyt |editor-first1=Richard |editor-link1=Richard Hakluyt |editor-last2=Goldsmid |editor-first2=Edmund |location=Edinburgh |publisher=E. & G. Goldsmid |publication-date=1889 |year=1600 |title=The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, And Discoveries of the English Nation |volume=XIII: America. Part II. |pages=276–282 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LmYjJ4CVhkwC&pg=PA276 |access-date=September 8, 2019 |archive-date=April 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417064613/https://books.google.com/books?id=LmYjJ4CVhkwC&pg=PA276 |url-status=live }}</ref> It was expected that Raleigh would establish a base from which to send [[privateer]]s on raids against the [[Spanish treasure fleet|treasure fleets of Spain]].{{Sfn|Kupperman|2007|p= 12}}

Despite the broad powers granted to Raleigh, he was forbidden to leave the queen's side. Instead of personally leading voyages to the Americas, he delegated the missions to his associates and oversaw operations from London.{{Sfn|Lawler|2018|pp=30, 34}}