born 1554?, Hayes Barton, near Budleigh Salterton, Devon, Eng.
died Oct. 29, 1618, London
English adventurer and favourite of Elizabeth I .
He joined his half brother Roanoke Island . He was knighted by Elizabeth in 1585. Out of favour at court from с 1592, he led an unsuccessful expedition up the Orinoco River in search of gold, which he described in The Discoverie of Guiana (1596). When Elizabeth died (1603), he was accused of plotting to depose James I and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Released in 1616, he led another unsuccessful expedition to search for gold in Guyana. When his men burned a Spanish settlement, he was rearrested by James and executed, at the demand of the Spanish ambassador, under Raleigh's original sentence for treason.