Raleigh (or Ralegh), Sir Walter (1552?–1618), an English soldier, seaman, politician, writer, and colonizer. Sir Walter is popularly known as a dashing figure of the Elizabethan Age. Throughout his adventurous life, the handsome Raleigh was impatient and arrogant, yet witty and charming. He earned a major place in history as the first man to send English colonists to America. His colonies, or plantations, failed, but his persistent effort led the way to permanent English settlement in the New World.
Raleigh was born into a prominent Devonshire family. When 14 years old he went to Oriel College, Oxford. At 17 he left to fight in France for the Huguenots (Protestants).
After sailing as a privateer against the Spanish, Raleigh in 1582 joined the court of Queen Elizabeth I. According to legend, he won the queen's favor by spreading his cloak over mud so she could cross without soiling her shoes. Whatever the fact, he became the queen's favorite. She enriched him with estates and monopolies, and in 1584 she knighted him.
In 1584, under charter from the queen, Raleigh sent a fleet to America. His men claimed a large part of the coast, which was named Virginia in honor of Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen. In 1585 Raleigh's agents set up a colony on Roanoke Island, but it failed. A second colony was started in 1587. However, all of the inhabitants disappeared, and it became known as the “lost colony." Raleigh himself never went to Virginia.
Raleigh's men brought tobacco and potatoes to England. Raleigh introduced potatogrowing into Ireland and popularized smoking in England. On one occasion when Raleigh was smoking, according to legend, a servant thought he was on fire and doused him with water.
In 1592 Raleigh courted Elizabeth Throckmorton, maid of honor to the queen. The jealous queen imprisoned him briefly in the Tower of London. (He later married Elizabeth Throckmorton.) After his release, Raleigh was barred from the court but became a member of Parliament. In 1595 Raleigh led an expedition to South America, captured the Spanish town of St. Joseph, Trinidad, and explored the Orinoco River in search of gold. In 1596–97 he served in naval expeditions against Spain.
After James I succeeded Elizabeth in 1603, Raleigh was involved in a plot to dethrone him and was imprisoned in the Tower for 13 years. There Raleigh made scientific experiments and wrote poetry and a History of the World. When released, Raleigh sailed in 1617 to Guiana, South America, searching for the fabled gold-rich region of El Dorado. His son Walter was killed in an attack on a Spanish town on the Orinoco. When Raleigh returned to England, he was retried on the old charge of treason and beheaded.
