Week 25 Essay

          Have you ever heard of Sir Walter Raleigh, the politician, spy, explorer, soldier, sailor, and writer? He lived during the Elizabethan Era, where he was even favored by the queen! Raleigh was even the founder of a few places, including the lost colony of Roanoke Island! Read more, and learn about the story of Sir Walter Raleigh, and his lost colony.

          Sir Walter Raleigh was born somewhere between 1552 and 1554. As a child, he easily learned to dislike Catholics, because he lived during the time of Queen Mary, who was Catholic. She and her soldiers forced Raleigh’s Protestant family to go into hiding.   

          He explored the East coast of North America. He even founded Virginia and named it after the virgin Queen Elizabeth. He traveled to Ireland and worked on promoting Protestantism, and when he returned to England, he became favored by the queen. He received many gifts from her, was knighted in 1885, and was allowed to keep many prized valuables in the queen’s castle.

          However, what he is most famous for was the founding of Roanoke Island. For geography, Roanoke Island is an island off the coast of North Carolina. He was allowed to begin a colony in the Americas and started a colony on Roanoke in 1587. Since Raleigh was a politician, he had to stay in England with Queen Elizabeth, so he left the colony in Roanoke to a man named John White.

          After some time, White went back to Europe to gather supplies, which was only supposed to take a one year trip. Unfortunately, England was at war with Spain at the time, and Elizabeth ordered that all ships must stay in case they had to be used for war. This delayed White for another year. A year later, White started to sail across the ocean to Roanoke, but was further delayed because he was outvoted and had to attack and loot a Spanish ship.

          Finally, three years after leaving the island, John White and his crew returned. However, they returned to find the colonists… gone! The only sign of the colonists were the word CROATOAN carved into the tree trunks, and others just said CRO. Croatoan was another island near Roanoke. White’s guess was that the colonists traveled there for some reason, so he set off to Croatoan, but never made it. No one knows why or how the colonists disappeared, nor did they ever find the colonists.

          Raleigh was one of Queen Elizabeth’s favorites, but he was imprisoned by her for secretly marrying Elizabeth’s lady-in-waiting, whose name was Bess. He was eventually set free though, several years later, and continued to serve the queen until she died.

          When Elizabeth died, Raleigh was again arrested for supposedly being part of a plot to kill Elizabeth’s successor, King James. Again, Raleigh was freed in 1616 to lead a sailing expedition to the Americas.

           On this trip, his men attacked a Spanish port without Raleigh, his permission, or of his knowing. Since King James was trying to bring peace to Spain and England, he arrested Raleigh for the third time. Sir Walter Raleigh was finally beheaded on October 29, 1618.

          Raleigh is remembered as both a hero and a villain to England. He founded Virginia and Roanoke Island, even though it did not end well. He was a great politician during this time and was favored by Queen Elizabeth. Even though he was executed for treason, he made many accomplishments and changed history forever.