Walter Raleigh & the Colonisation of Virginia (Edexcel GCSE History)

What Opportunities & Issues did Raleigh Encounter in Virginia? - Timeline & Summary

From 1578, England desired colonies in the Americas. Throughout this period, Anglo-Spanish were poor. This caused Spain to restrict English merchants' access to the valuable markets in the Americas. Spain's empire dominated the Americas. Elizabeth knew that the ability to rival Spain in Europe stemmed from establishing American colonies. Through expeditions of discovery, the English believed the Mid-Atlantic region of North America was the ideal place for settlement. They called the region 'Virginia' and singled out Roanoke Island as the first English colony.

The reality of colonisation did not match Elizabeth's vision. The voyages of multiple explorers ended in failure and the loss of investors' money. The numerous expeditions planned by Sir Walter Raleigh also failed. Raleigh made fundamental mistakes in the planning stage. He did not recruit an assortment of colonists. The settlement lacked the necessary survival skills. The colonists did not value their relationship with the indigenous people, the Algonquians and the Croatans. This was pivotal in causing the settlers to flee in 1586 and the disappearance of the whole colony on Roanoke Island by 1590.

Sir Walter Raleigh

• Sir Walter Raleigh was important to Queen Elizabeth

  • Raleigh was an explorer, author and historian

  • He was one of Elizabeth's favourite courtiers

• After the success of Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the world in 1580, Elizabeth's government desired to explore more of the Americas

  • Elizabeth gave Raleigh a grant to find a suitable colony for English settlers 

    • The grant did not cover all of the costs of travelling and settling a new colony

    • Raleigh needed to attract new investors to raise enough money for the voyage

• Elizabeth did not allow Raleigh to lead the voyage himself. He was responsible for:

  • Investigating a suitable territory in North America to establish a colony

  • Using his fame and influence to persuade enough people to become colonists

  • Developing a plan to transport the colonists to the Americas

  • Choosing a governor of the new colony to maintain law and order

  • Ensuring other explorers could duplicate his plan to establish more colonies

The Failed Attempts to Colonise North America, 1578-83

• Raleigh was not the first Englishman to attempt to establish a colony in North America 

• The table below explains what caused previous explorers to fail to colonise the Americas:

The Failure of Previous Colonisation Attempts in America

Raleigh Investigates Virginia, 1584

• In 1584, Raleigh sent an expedition to discover a suitable place in North America to establish a colony 
  

  • The expedition found an ideal location. Captain Arthur Barlowe called the area 'Virginia' in his report back to England

    • The name Virginia was important. It symbolised the region was for the 'Virgin' Queen Elizabeth. It also represented how other European colonists had not touched the region

• The expedition sent back positive reports of Virginia

  • The English explorers encountered the indigenous community called the Algonquians

    • The Algonquians had an organised system of government

    • They met Chief Wingina, the ruler of several settlements on Roanoke Island. The English understood that they needed to work with the indigenous people in America

  • The expedition reported that the Algonquians were friendly

    • The English traded knives with the Algonquians for meat, nuts and vegetables

    • The expedition brought two Algonquians called Manteo and Wanchese back to England

      • Mathematician Thomas Harriot learnt Algonquian and taught Manteo and Wanchese to speak English

      • Harriot made an English-Algonquian dictionary to help future communication

How did the 1584 expedition raise the necessary funds for the Virginia project?

• Raleigh used the 1584 expedition to persuade investors to fund a Virginia colony

  • He argued that the colony would have economic benefits for England

    • The Algonquians wanted English wool. The colonists could trade wool for valuable raw materials like gold and tobacco

    • The settlers could create products for English merchants to sell

  • Raleigh promised to take the cargo of any Spanish ship the expedition saw. Sir Francis Drake's voyage showed that this tactic made a substantial amount of money for investors

  • Raleigh invested his own money into the voyage. This showed investors how much he believed in the Virginia project

  • Raleigh could not persuade Elizabeth to fully fund the project

    • The threat of Spain concerned Elizabeth

      • Spain wanted to invade England

      • Spain owned a lot of territory in the Americas

    • Elizabeth was cautious with money

      • She knew the expedition could become costly

      • She did not want to bankrupt the royal treasury with the Virginia project

    • Elizabeth gave some financial support for the voyage

      • She did not want to bankrupt the royal treasury with the Virginia project

      • This backing encouraged other nobles to invest, for example, Sir Francis Walsingham

Organising the Virginia Project

• It was important that Raleigh planned the Virginia project in detail

• The concept map below shows how Raleigh organised the voyage in 1585:

How did Raleigh organise the Virginia Project?

• The English settlers arrived on Roanoke Island in August 1585

Why was the Colonisation of Virginia Significant?

• There were several motivating factors behind the colonisation of Virginia. These were:

  • Taking power away from Spain

    • England could attack Spain's American colonies from Virginia

    • England wanted to rival Spain's supremacy in the Americas. An English colony in the Americas would increase England's trade and influence with the indigenous people

    • England wanted to create an empire as powerful as Spain's. Elizabethan attempts to colonise the Americas in the 16th century led to Britain possessing the most powerful empire by the 19th century

  • Boosting the economy

    • Merchants desired to find new groups to trade with. The conflict with Spain prevented English merchants from trading wool in the Netherlands

    • The climate of the Americas had similarities with the Mediterranean. If England could create colonies in the Americas, England could gain resources without trading with Spanish-controlled territories. For example, England could grow their own fruit and spices

    • England would gain access to valuable, rare raw materials. Tobacco and sugar were growing in popularity in England

Why Did the Virginia Colony Fail in 1585-86?

• Raleigh's Virginia project failed

  • The surviving colonists left Virginia and arrived back in England in 1586

• The illustration below explains the reasons why the first Virginia colony failed by 1586:

Reasons for the failure of the Virginia colony

The Mystery of Roanoke, 1587-90

• In 1587, England sent another voyage to Roanoke Island, Virginia

• Historians are unsure about exactly what happened to the colonists

• The storyboard below explains, to the best of historians' knowledge, the events in Roanoke in 1587-90:

AWAITING IMAGE

A storyboard explaining the issues around the second colonisation attempt of Roanoke Island, 1587-90