Fort Raleigh National Historic Site

After the changes wrought by four centuries, it is not easy to imagine the America seen by the small band of settlers who gained for England a foothold in the New World. They had left behind the comfortable limits and familiar rhythms of European civilization for a boundless and unpredictable world in which vigilance, courage, and endurance were needed just to survive.

Roanoke Island

Their colony on Roanoke Island played a part in a broader historical event: the expansion of the known world. In the century after Columbus’ voyage had put a new continent on the map. Europe’s seagoing nations rushed to participate in the discoveries, to claim part of the prize. England was something of a latecomer to the race for the New World. By the time the English began to send out voyages of exploration, Spain was already entrenched in what is now Florida and Mexico. English privateers had been sailing to the North American coast since 1562, slave-trading and preying on Spanish shipping loaded with royal loot from Mexico. No one, though, had seriously considered a colony in North America until 1578, when Sir Humphrey Gilbert, armed with a charter from Queen Elizabeth "to inhabit and possess…all remote and heathen lands not in actual possession of any Christian prince," made the first of two attempts to reach Newfoundland. After he died on the second voyage, Sir Walter Raleigh, his half-brother, obtained a similar charter from the queen. Reports from his expedition in 1584 sang the praises of the rich land, and by the middle of the following year England had made its first tentative move to transplant English culture to foreign soil. The new colony was called "Virginia," after the Virgin Queen.

England’s motives for settling the New World ranged from the mercenary to the idealistic. One of the primary spurs, at least for Raleigh, was the prospect of an ideal base for forays against French and Spanish shipping. Publicist Richard Hakluyt conjured up visions of gold and copper mines and cash crops, which fit neatly with Gilbert’s plan to put "needy people" to work there. The anticipated Northwest Passage was another strong lure. Finally, like Spain’s efforts to make the New World Catholic, England wanted to spread the new Protestant religion among the "savages" – to claim the land for God and Queen, although not necessarily in that order. In a sense the two settlements at Fort Raleigh represented England’s schooling in establishing a colony. The first was more like the Spanish operation – militaristic, dependent on the home country, and exploitative of the native Americans. The second was intended to be a permanent colony, with women and children, fewer soldiers, and a sounder agricultural base. Although all of the settlers who were to have built "The Cittie of Ralegh" disappeared, their dream of an English home in the New World was realized 20 years later at Jamestown.

Queen Elizabeth I

The reign of Queen Elizabeth  I (1558-1603) was one of the high-water marks of English history. After the troubled years under her sister Mary I – known as "Bloody Mary" for her religious persecutions – the English welcomed the spirited, intelligent, and strong-willed Elizabeth I. England had long been a small, somewhat static nation, coveted by the European powers and castigated by the Pope as a hotbed of Protestantism. Now there was a sense of possibilities, of national purpose, under the young queen.

Elizabeth’s radiant dress, sparkling court, and adroit advisors set the tone for the period, and her personality helped give the nation a strong self-image: dynamic yet stable, where ventures and reputations rose and fell with dizzying speed while the machinery of government ground on. Hers was a rule of benevolent authoritarianism, and her shrewd and sensitive handling of people earned total loyalty from her advisors and early compliance from Parliament. She felt no need for a standing army in the "French fashion." The aristocracy’s grand homes changed from fortified castles to open manors, reflecting their owners’ confidence in the stable social order and in the state’s ability to defend them. That strength also benefited the common people, who took pride in England’s growing international prestige and enjoyed an improved standard of living. Elizabeth’s reluctance to indulge in petty wars and her shrewd financial management kept the Crown on a sound financial footing for most of her rule. The old feudal system had faded, and the economy was opening up, with a new middle class of merchants searching for investments and expanded markets for the products of England.

Privateers

So with new strength and self-confidence, England turned outward, and began to make the sea its own. The nation finally had the means and the will to challenge Spain’s and Portugal’s dominance of world exploration and exploitation. To that end "privateers" served an important function. Their private fleets were supposed to raid only the shipping of official enemies, but during the cold war with France and Spain, the ships of both countries were fair game.

Successful sea captains weren’t the only ones to find Elizabeth’s favor. Under her rule, England enjoyed a flowering of the arts, especially literature. Names like Shakespeare, Bacon, Spenser, and Sidney commanded as much respect as Raleigh, Grenville, Drake and Hawkins.

Sir Frances Drake’s circumnavigation of the world (1577-80) was also the most famous English privateering voyage. He looted Spanish shipping and, by flouting Spain’s claims to monopoly in the America’s, proved the weakness of its empire.