Elizabethan England / 1584-1590
Elizabethan England: Raleigh and Roanoke
Raleigh's attempts at colonisation showed how hard it was to settle and survive in North America.
What To Remember
- Elizabeth gave Raleigh permission to colonise Virginia in 1584.
- The 1585 voyage led to a settlement at Roanoke Island under Sir Richard Grenville.
- The 1587 voyage ended with the famous Lost Colony.
The first settlement
In 1584 Elizabeth gave Raleigh a patent to explore and seize land in North America for England.
His 1585 voyage sent two small ships first, then Sir Richard Grenville led a larger expedition that left 108 soldiers to guard Roanoke and the nearby area.
The settlement began badly when Grenville's ship hit rocks and damaged supplies and seed crops.
The Lost Colony
Raleigh learned from the first failure and sent families rather than soldiers on the 1587 voyage, with John White leading the expedition.
Hurricanes forced the settlers to land at Roanoke, and White had to leave for more supplies just as the Spanish Armada crisis made ships harder to spare.
When White returned in 1590, the colony had vanished, with only the message CRO left behind.
Why it matters
The Roanoke story became famous because it showed how fragile colonisation could be.
There were hopes of fertile land, hunting, and trade, but weak supply lines and poor relations with Native Americans meant those hopes collapsed.
The Lost Colony still stands as the best-known Elizabethan colonisation failure.
Revision Prompt
Why did Raleigh's attempts to settle Roanoke run into problems?