Raleigh, Sir Walter

Raleigh, Sir Walter (1552-1618), soldier, explorer, writer, b. Hayes Barton, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, England.

Walter Raleigh (or Ralegh) lived a life of adventure.

It began in about 1569. That year he left Oxford University without completing his studies and took part in a rebellion in France.

In 1578, he set out with his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, to raid Spanish ports in the West Indies, but they ran into bad weather and turned back.

Two years later Raleigh went to Ireland as a captain of foot soldiers to fight against rebels. The following year he was presented to Queen Elizabeth.

He became one of the Queen's favourites. She gave him 12,000 acres of land in Ireland and knighted him.

In 1585-87, Raleigh sent out two parties of settlers to start a colony in America. It was to be called Virginia in honour of Queen Elizabeth who was known as the Virgin Queen. The first party gave up and came home and the second party disappeared. One thing the settlers sent back to England was tobacco.

In the battle with the Spanish Armada (1588), Raleigh was in charge of the defence of England on land.

In 1595, he sailed to Guiana in South America to look for a kingdom of gold called El Dorado. Soon after his return, he sailed with the Earl of Essex in a raid on the harbour of Cadiz, Spain.

In 1597, he again sailed with Essex against the Spanish and captured the town of Fayal in the Azores. Then for three years, he was Governor of the island of Jersey.

But in 1603, Elizabeth died and the new King, James I, had Raleigh imprisoned in the Tower of London. He lived there comfortably with his family and servants for twelve years.

During his lifetime, Raleigh had written a great deal and in these twelve years he wrote a book, History of the World, and many poems.

In 1617, an old man of sixty-four, Raleigh set out once more to look for gold in South America for King James. He had strict orders not to attack the Spaniards but one of his officers disobeyed these orders. Raleigh found no gold and when he returned to England he was put to death.

See Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado ~ Marc Aronson