SirWalterRaleigh5

** WHO WAS SIR WALTER RALEIGH? WHAT WAS HIS CONNECTION TO ELIZAETH I? WHAT IS HIS CONNECTION TO THE LEGEND OF //EL DORADO ? WHAT IS HIS LEGACY? // **  ** Sir Walter Raleigh was an English explorer, poet, and historian. He was born sometime in 1552 and died in 1603. He was part of a leading protestant family. Raleigh was one of Queen Elizabeth’s favorites. When she found out he had married one of her maids her feelings toward him changed.
 * Answer prepared by: Chelsea M.

According to Linda Alchin, author of the web page “Sir Walter Ralegh” “in 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh established the colony of Roanoke Island.” He named his colony Virginia, in honor of queen Elizabeth (Alchin). Queen Elizabeth then made him the governor of the new territory that he established on Roanoke Island. Though his colony did fail, it was the first English colony to be formed in the New World. After the colony’s failure he returned back to England. Then, on February 6,1595, he left England to sail to the New World in search for //El Dorado (the city of gold). Many explorers at the time had the same dream as Sir Raleigh. They all wanted to be the first to find the hidden city of gold. Viceroy Antonio de Mendozal, an explorer from way back, was told that there are seven cities of gold. This is the myth of the cities. A king was said to have on gold dust all over him and then he would go into a sacred lake to wash it off. After he would wash himself he would toss gold into the lake as an offering to the gods. This king was then called El Dorado, which mean the Gilded One. King El Dorado got this name because he would smother gold on his body, which made him look gilded. As this tale made its way around the world, the city that he ruled became known as El Dorado. While in the New World Raleigh explored the Orinoco River. According to Paul Brewer’s book, __The Groiler Student Library of Explorers and Exploration__, Sir Walter Raleigh found and brought back valuable rocks. His dream of finding El Dorado never came true and will always remain a dream (Brewer 59). // King James then took the place of Queen Elizabeth after she died. Sir Walter Raleigh promised King James that if he let him go explore Guiana he would give the King the fortune that he finds. The King accepted his offer and Raleigh set off to Guiana. While there his mission fails and he then attacks a Spanish settlement. Apparently, that didn’t go to well with King James, so Raleigh and his wife were sent to the Tower of London. That wasn’t the first time he was sent there though. When Elizabeth found out that Raleigh had married her maid she ordered hm to go to the Tower of London for a while. Sadly, sometime in 1603 Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded for his attack on the Spanish settlement (Alchin).

[|Video of Raleigh's Colony] [|Video of Raleigh's poem, "The Lie"]




 * Works Cited **

Brewer, Paul.//The Groiler Student Library of Explorers and Exploration. Groiler Academic Reference, 1997. 58-59. Print // Dersin, Denise.//What Life was Like- in the Realm of Elizabeth: AD 1533- 1603//. Alexandria, VI: Time Life Inc., 1998. 132-133. Print.
 * __BOOKS: __**

Hinds, Kathryn.//Life in Elizabethan England: Elizabeth and her Court. 1st edition. Marshall Cavendish, 35-36,41. Print. // Lace, William W.//Elizabethan England: Elizabeth and her Court. Farmington Hills, MI: Lucent Books, 2002. 32. Print. // Roberts, Russell.//Elizabethan England. Hockessin, DE: Mitchell Lane Publishers, 2010. 15. Print. //

Advameg, Inc.,. "El Dorado."//Myth Encyclopedia: Myths and Legends of the World. Advameg, Inc., 2010. Web. 10 Apr 2010. . // Alchin, Linda. "Sir Walter Raleigh."//Elizabethan Era. N.p., 2005. Web. 1 Apr 2010. . // Jokinen, Anniina. "Sir Walter Ralegh(1552-1618)."//16th Century Renaissance England Literature (1485-1603)//. Anniina Jokinen, 1996-2007. Web. 1 Apr 2010. .
 * __WEBSITES: __**