The Discovery of Guiana

by Walter Raleigh

After enjoying several years of high esteem from Queen Elizabeth I, which stemmed in part from his previous exploits at sea, Raleigh suffered a short imprisonment for secretly marrying one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting. In an attempt to bring himself back into favor, Raleigh sailed to Guiana in 1595, hoping to find gold and other material to exchange or extort. One contemporary scholar remarks of this journey, -Although the expedition itself was hardly a success-Ralegh conquered no lands, found no stores of wealth, and discovered little not observed by earlier adventurers-he created a triumph for himself by publishing The Discovery.- He returned to Guiana one more time, in 1617, this time after a twelve-year imprisonment at the hands of King James I. Unfortunately for Raleigh, this adventure did not yield more gold, nor did it yield a published account, likely since he was arrested soon after returning, and sentenced to death.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, School

84 pages, Paperback

Published March 18, 2017

About the author

Sir Walter Raleigh or Ralegh (c.1552 - 1618), was a famed English writer, poet, soldier, courtier, and explorer.

Raleigh was born to a Protestant family in Devon, the son of Walter Raleigh and Catherine Champernowne. Little is known for certain of his early life, though he spent some time in Ireland, in Killua Castle, Clonmellon, County Westmeath, taking part in the suppression of rebellions and participating in two infamous massacres at Rathlin Island and Smerwick, later becoming a landlord of lands confiscated from the Irish. He rose rapidly in Queen Elizabeth I's favour, being knighted in 1585, and was involved in the early English colonisation of the New World in Virginia under a royal patent. In 1591 he secretly married Elizabeth Throckmorton, one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, without requesting the Queen's permission, for which he and his wife were sent to the Tower of London. After his release, they retired to his estate at Sherborne, Dorset.

In 1594 Raleigh heard of a "City of Gold" in South America and sailed to find it, publishing an exaggerated account of his experiences in a book that contributed to the legend of El Dorado. After Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, Raleigh was again imprisoned in the Tower, this time for allegedly being involved in the Main Plot against King James I, who was not favourably disposed toward him. In 1616, however, he was released in order to conduct a second expedition in search of El Dorado. This was unsuccessful and the Spanish outpost at San Thomé was ransacked by men under his command. After his return to England he was arrested and, after a show trial held mainly to appease the Spanish after Raleigh's attack of San Thomé, he was beheaded at Whitehall.

Reviews

[Wreade1872 · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Guiana is a country that hath yet her maidenhead, never sacked, turned, nor wrought; the face of the earth hath not been torn... The graves have not been opened for gold, the mines not broken with sledges, nor their images pulled down out of their temples."

Don't worry folks, Sir Walt is here to correct that horrible situation. Luckily he failed, unluckily there's nothing of interest in this short account of his failure. I was hoping at least for some craziness like in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville but there's only a passing mention of the Amazons and the headless Ewaipanoma.

He doesn't even claim to have any first hand knowledge of them, Mandeville's outrageous lies where at least mildly entertaining.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great original source material. Very interesting and well written account of Raleigh's experience with nature.

[Brian Shipps · Rating 2 out of 5]

The journey of Sir Walter Raleigh into South America, all for the glory of England

[Kamaya Robles · Rating 1 out of 5]

AKA 1595 clickbait
He never found el dorado or gold
He did find some new plants though!