Early Settlement
History: KS3, topic 6.2.1
Discovering North America
Parts of North America were the first places to be colonised successfully by the British, and Britain came to control thirteen colonies along the east coast.
How did it begin?
- By the end of the 15th century, Europeans were discovering new lands in parts of the world they had not previously known had existed.
- Spain and Portugal were at the forefront of this age of exploration and discovery, being the first to discover Central and South America.
English exploration
- At this point, England could not compete with its European neighbours.
- But at the start of the 17th century, investment in England’s navy and increased royal interest in exploration and discovery meant that England began to establish colonies overseas.
Raleigh’s ventures in the Americas
- Walter Raleigh (an English explorer) was responsible for establishing the first (unsuccessful) English colony in North America in 1584.
- He established a colony along the east coast which he named Virginia (after the Virgin Queen Elizabeth).
- To that colony, he sent a group of English settlers to establish a settlement called Roanoke.
Roanoke
- But the settlement mysteriously disappeared and when an expedition travelled to Roanoke from England a few years later, there was no sign of the colony.
- Raleigh also set his sights on the great riches that he believed were available in the Americas in El Dorado (the ‘City of Gold’).
Failure of Raleigh
- Although Raleigh is remembered as a great explorer at the beginning of England’s age of exploration, he failed to establish a successful settlement in the Americas.
Test yourself on Early Settlement
In which year did Walter Raleigh establish the first (but unsuccessful) British settlement in North America?
What did Raleigh name the first British colony in North America?