Sir Walter Raleigh

History Maker Bios

by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson

True or False? Sir Walter Raleigh sailed to South America in search of a fabled city of gold.

True! Raleigh never found El Dorado. But he recorded his experiences of the people and land of South America.

He helped start the first English settlement in the New World. With Queen Elizabeth, he named the land Virginia. His writing caught the attention of William Shakespeare. He went in search of El Dorado to win back the queen's favor.

Read these other History Maker Bios Explorers and Adventurers
Neil Armstrong, Nellie Bly, Daniel Boone, Christopher Columbus, Davy Crockett, Amelia Earhart, Matthew Henson, Lewis and Clark, Annie Oakley, Ferdinand Magellan, Juan Ponce de Leon.

48 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Stephanie Sammartino McPherson wrote her first children's story in college. She enjoyed the process so much that she's never stopped writing. A former teacher and freelance newspaper writer, she has written twenty-eight books and numerous magazine stories. She especially enjoys writing about science and the human interest stories behind major discoveries.

Stephanie and her husband, Richard, live in Virginia but also call California home. They are the parents of two grown children.