Walter Raleigh β was a courtier, seaman and explorer in Elizabethan England. He was a pioneer in the English colonisation of North America.
As well as being a courtier and explorer, he was also a keen philosopher, historian and poet. Raleigh was the son of a Devonshire squire but his family had important connections. One of these was his half brother Humphrey Gilbert, an explorer and adventurer. Raleigh was ambitious and knew that to gain the notice of the Queen he had to prove himself as a soldier and explorer.
For this reason he also went to Ireland where his family had land and quelled a rebellion there. These exploits, and his prowess as a poet, enabled him to join the inner circle at Court. When Humphrey Gilbert died while returning from an attempt to colonise North America, Raleigh was keen to take up his cause. He commissioned and financed an expedition that landed on the North American coast. They named the territory Virginia, in the name of the Virgin Queen as Elizabeth was known.
Raleigh sent a second expedition in and a third in , with the intention of establishing a British settlement in America on Roanoke Island, in modern North Carolina. Walter Raleigh is given credit for introducing both tobacco and potatoes to Britain, although both of these were already known from Spanish explorers.
Raleigh certainly helped to make smoking popular at court and was convinced tobacco was a good cure for coughs. Raleigh was interested in seamanship and navigation.
