Elizabethan society in the Age of exploration 1558-88 Focus 4. Raleigh and Virginia. The significance of Raleigh and the attempted colonisation of Virginia. Reasons for the failure of Virginia.

Were the voyages of Sir Walter Raleigh really significant? Early life 1552-78 Walter Raleigh was born to a gentry family in the west country and educated locally. In the 1570s, he served in the French religious wars as a volunteer in the French Protestant Army, and later commanded a company sent to put down rebellion in ireland. 1578-88 At court, his ‘dashing and flamboyant nature’ caught Elizabeth’s attention and he became a close favourite.In 1578, He was given command of his first ship, the falcon, and sailed with his half brother, the explorer Sir Humphrey Gilbert, to North America to establish an English settlement there. Despite reaching the coast of Nova Scotia, they were unable to secure a suitable location and Gilbert drowned when his ship sunk. Over the next ten years, Raleigh continued to be the Queen’s favourite at court. Elizabeth knighted him, made him captain of the Queen’s bodyguard and and Vice-Admiral of Devon and Cornwall. He was also given considerable land in England and Ireland. In 1584, he persuaded Elizabeth to agree to an expedition to explore the coast of North America, Which he would name Virginia, in her honour. She gave Raleigh, in effect, exclusive rights to possess and exploit all resources of the area, including minerals-except where there were other Europeans already established.

Were the voyages of Sir Walter Raleigh really significant? What did Sir walter raleigh actually do Sir Walter Raleigh was responsible for planning, organising and financing the two voyages that sailed in his name in 1585 and 1587 to establish English colonies in America. However, it is important to remember that Raleigh himself did not sail with them. Despite this, they are referred to as his voyages and he is given the credit for founding Virginia. The voyages which Raleigh led himself came after 1588, towards the end of Elizabeth’s reign. The advantages of establishing a British colony in North America Advantages of establishing a colony in North America: To have a base for attacking spanish interests in the area. To launch raids on the Spanish west indies and annual treasure fleets. To prevent the Spanish and French from settling there. To provide the prospect of a better life for the growing number of poor in England To gain access to rich local resources, including minerals. To add to the territories under the English crown and so increase its prestige

The 1585 voyage April 1584 An unfortunate start On his return In April 1584, Raleigh dispatched two small ships on a reconnaissance expedition to the area off modern-day North Carolina. When they returned, the commanders gave enthusiastic reports of a fertile land, full of animals that could be hunted for food, and with civilised Native Americans. Raleigh began to organise his first expedition. As the queen would not allow her favourite to leave court, in 1585, 108 male settlers, under the command of Ralph Lane, sailed to America with sir Richard Grenville. An unfortunate start The settlement got off to an unfortunate start when Grenville’s ship hit rocks as it came into land. The resulting seawater in the hold damaged supplies and seed crops. Lane began the construction of a fort and settlement on Roanoke island, and after a couple of months, Grenville returned to England to get more settlers and supplies, leaving the garrison of 108 men. Relations with the Native American population were not hostile at first, but some tribes started to get angry that the colonists were taking up good land and resources. Lane was forced to abandon Roanoke island in June 1586, owing to hostilities between the English and the local secotans on whom Lane’s men depend on for food. When Francis Drake arrived at the colony on his way home from the West Indies in the same month, starving colonists climbed aboard his ships to go back to England. On his return On his return to court, Ralph Lane enthused about the virtues of Chesapeake Bay as the best place for a settlement, because it would enable searches for the gold mines which the Native Americans had told him about and a passage for boats through to the east. Raleigh, who by now had been knighted by the queen and made ‘Lord and Governor of Virginia’, began to sponsor another expedition.

The 1587 voyage The beginning of a second expedition A second colony Raleigh was determined to learn from the information brought back from the first colony. His second expedition took settler families rather than soldiers, headed further north to Chesapeake Bay, which was a better harbour. This expedition, led by John White, who had been on the two previous voyages, sailed in 1587. However, it was forced to land again in North Carolina when the master pilot, Simon Fernandes, who was worried about hurricanes, put the settlers of at Roanoke Island and refused to take them any further. A second colony They established a second colony there, but it was too late to plant seeds and, again relations with the local Native Americans were poor. White decided to return to England to bring back more supplies, but by then, all ships were needed for defence against the Armada. He was unable to return to Roanoke until 1590, they found that settlers he had left behind had disappeared, leaving only a message saying ‘CRO’. It was widely believed that this meant the colonies had moved to the nearby island of Croatoan, but continued bad weather meant white could not reach the, and in the end he returned to England. The Lost colony The colonists were never seen again and this has since become known as the ‘Lost Colony’. Most historians think that the lost colonists encountered either disease or violence, split up into smaller groups and spread among Native American villages. However, in 2013, archaeologists discovered a small Native American town to the west of Roanoke. Using modern equipment, they found evidence of wooden structures about a metre below the surface. Work is continuing to try to determine if this is the lost colony of Roanoke.

The 1587 voyage Reasons why Raleigh’s settlement in Virginia failed. Food supplies did not survive the journey. Seeds were sown at the wrong time of year. Starvation. Lack of a good harbour. Disease. Failure of ships the return from England with fresh supplies and men. Colonist depended on local Native American for food. Relations with Native Americans deteriorated. The longer term impact of Raleigh’s expeditions. Raleigh’s expeditions, although perhaps not seen as a success at the time, had: Laid the foundations for the eventual colonisation of America by the English in the next century Returned a profit, due to captured Spanish ships Excited merchants with examples of good to trade, including the potato Increased knowledge of the continent through: Increased navigational knowledge The books of Thomas Hariot, Raleigh’s assistant, who went on the 1585 voyage to Roanoke, which described the plants, animals and minerals of the area in great detail. The paintings of John White who was hired by Raleigh to record the expedition. His illustrations provide a remarkable array of evidence of the people and places White and his colleagues encountered.