Editing Walter Raleigh (section)

==New World==
[[File:Sir Walter Raleigh by Simon van de Passe (1617).jpg|thumb|Engraved portrait of Raleigh]]
On March 25, 1584, Queen Elizabeth granted Raleigh [[Royal charter|a royal charter]] authorising him to explore, colonise and rule any "remote, heathen and barbarous lands, countries and territories, not actually possessed of any Christian Prince or inhabited by Christian People", in return for one-fifth of all the gold and silver that might be mined there.<ref name=yale.edu/><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |location=Manteo, North Carolina |title=Amadas and Barlowe – Fort Raleigh National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/fora/learn/education/amadas-and-barlowe.htm |access-date=2023-06-07 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en |archive-date=7 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607122426/https://www.nps.gov/fora/learn/education/amadas-and-barlowe.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> This charter specified that Raleigh had seven years in which to establish a settlement, or else lose his right to do so. Raleigh and Elizabeth intended that the venture should provide riches from the New World and a base from which to send [[privateer]]s on raids against the treasure fleets of [[Spain]].  The charter was originally given to [[Humphrey Gilbert|Sir Humphrey Gilbert]] who pitched the idea to [[Elizabeth I|Queen Elizabeth I]] and died at sea while attempting to accomplish it.

On April 27, 1584, the [[Philip Amadas]] and [[Arthur Barlowe]] expedition set sail from England on an exploratory mission to determine what resources were available in North America.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Evans |first=Phillip |title=Amadas and Barlowe Expedition |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/amadas-and-barlowe-expedition |access-date=6 June 2023 |archive-date=6 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606193309/https://www.ncpedia.org/amadas-and-barlowe-expedition |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Roanoke colony timeline |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/timeline/Roanoke_Colony/ |access-date=6 June 2023 |archive-date=6 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606193706/https://www.worldhistory.org/timeline/Roanoke_Colony/ |url-status=live }}</ref>  They returned with two of the local inhabitants, Manteo and Wanchese, in August 1584, and reported of their findings.<ref name=":4" /> The region (the majority of the east coast) received the name "Virginia" for the Virgin [[Elizabeth I|Queen Elizabeth I]], which is the origin of the name of the modern day [[Virginia|state]].<ref name=":3" />

In 1585, he sent a militarized group to North America to set up a fort to raid Spanish ships and become the first English colony in North America.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Walter Raleigh (c. 1552–1618) |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/raleigh_walter.shtml |website=BBC |quote="In 1585, he sponsored the first English colony in America on Roanoke Island (now North Carolina)." |access-date=6 June 2023 |archive-date=6 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606193257/https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/raleigh_walter.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":2" /> The voyage was led by [[Richard Grenville|Sir Richard Grenville]] and the colony on [[Roanoke Island]] was governed by [[Ralph Lane]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roanoke Island |date=7 March 2016 |url=https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/roanoke-island/ |access-date=6 June 2023 |archive-date=6 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606193256/https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/roanoke-island/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The colony ran out of food after clashes with the local inhabitants and eventually left with [[Francis Drake|Sir Francis Drake]] in June 1586 after resupply attempts failed.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Sir Walter Raleigh {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/english-literature-1500-1799-biographies/sir-walter-raleigh |access-date=2023-06-06 |website=www.encyclopedia.com |archive-date=6 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606195502/https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/english-literature-1500-1799-biographies/sir-walter-raleigh |url-status=live }}</ref>  Sir Richard Grenvile arrived shortly after the Lane colony left with Drake.  He left supplies and 15 men on Roanoke Island and returned to England.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Milton |first=Giles |url=https://archive.org/details/bigchiefelizabet00milt_0/page/n7/mode/2up |title=Big Chief Elizabeth |publisher=Sceptre |year=2000|isbn=9780340748824 }}</ref> They were never seen again.

On July 22, 1587, Raleigh attempted a second expedition, again establishing a settlement on Roanoke Island.<ref name=":2" /> This time, [[List of colonists at Roanoke|a more diverse group of settlers]] was sent, including some entire families,<ref name=si.edu/> under the governance of [[John White (colonist and artist)|John White]].{{sfn|Hakluyt|1965|p=522}} After a short while in America, White returned to England to obtain more supplies for the colony, planning to return in a year. Unfortunately for the colonists at Roanoke, one year became three. The first delay came when Queen Elizabeth I ordered all vessels to remain at port for potential use against the [[Spanish Armada]]. After England's 1588 victory over the Spanish Armada, the ships were given permission to sail.{{sfn|Quinn|1985|pp=125–126}}

The second delay came after White's small fleet set sail for Roanoke and his crew insisted on sailing first towards [[Cuba]] in hopes of capturing treasure-laden Spanish merchant ships. Enormous riches described by their pilot, an experienced [[Portugal|Portuguese]] navigator hired by Raleigh, outweighed White's objections to the delay.{{sfn|Quinn|1985|pp=125–126}}

When the supply ship arrived in Roanoke, three years later than planned, the colonists had disappeared.{{sfn|Quinn|1985|pp=130–133}} The only clue to their fate was the word "CROATOAN" and the letters "CRO" carved into tree trunks. White had arranged with the settlers that if they should move, the name of their destination be carved into a tree or corner post. This suggested the possibility that they had moved to [[Croatoan Island]], but a hurricane prevented John White from investigating the island for survivors.{{sfn|Quinn|1985|pp=130–133}} Other speculation includes their having starved, or been swept away or lost at sea during the stormy weather of 1588. No further attempts at contact were recorded for some years. Whatever the fate of the settlers, the settlement is now remembered as the "[[Roanoke Colony]]" later known as the "Lost Colony".{{sfn|Quinn|1985|p=}}

Raleigh himself never visited North America, although he led expeditions in 1595 and 1617 to the [[Orinoco]] river basin in [[South America]] in search of the golden city of [[El Dorado]].  These expeditions were funded primarily by Raleigh and his friends but never provided the steady stream of revenue necessary to maintain a colony in America.