Colonisation in Elizabethan Times (OCR GCSE History B (Schools History Project)): Revision Note

Summary

In the 1580s, England decided to copy Spain and Portugal by building an empire of colonies abroad. The first attempt was led by Walter Raleigh, and the colony was located on the North American island of Roanoke.

It ended in complete failure and the colonists who did not die returned to England. However, valuable lessons were learned and successful English colonies were built all across the East Coast of America in the 1600s.

Where was Roanoke?

• In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh sent an expedition to North America

  • The aim was to find a suitable place to establish a colony 

• The expedition believed it had found an ideal location on an island off the east coast of North America called Roanoke

• Captain Arthur Barlowe called the wider area 'Virginia' in his report back to England

  • The name 'Virginia' was important as it symbolised the region was for the 'Virgin' Queen Elizabeth

  • It also represented how other European colonists had not touched the region

• The expedition sent back positive reports of Virginia

  • The English explorers encountered the Algonquians, an indigenous community

  • The Algonquians had an organised system of government

    • The explorers met Chief Wingina, the ruler of several settlements on Roanoke Island

    • The English understood that they needed to work with the indigenous people in America

• Raleigh was sponsored by private investors and Queen Elizabeth to colonise Virginia

• In August 1585, 107 colonists landed on Roanoke Island

Reasons for building a colony on Roanoke

• The motivating factors behind the colonisation of Virginia included:

  • Reducing Spain's power

  • Improving the economy

Taking power away from Spain

• England could attack Spain's American colonies from Virginia

• England wanted to rival Spain's supremacy in the Americas

  • An English colony in the Americas would increase England's trade and influence with the indigenous people

• England wanted to create an empire as powerful as Spain's

  • Elizabethan attempts to colonise the Americas in the 16th century led to Britain possessing the most powerful empire by the 19th century

Boosting the economy

• Merchants wanted new groups to trade with

• The conflict with Spain prevented English merchants from trading wool in the Netherlands

• In the Americas, England would gain access to valuable, rare raw materials

  • Tobacco and sugar were growing in popularity in England

The failure of the Virginia colony

• The attempt to build an English colony in Roanoke was a disaster

  • The colonists who survived arrived back in England in 1586

• Raleigh's attempted colony may have failed, but lessons were learned from the experience

  • These lessons helped the colonists establish Jamestown in 1607 - the first successful English colony in America