<P> Amongst Raleigh's acquaintances in Munster was another Englishman who had been granted land there, poet Edmund Spenser . In the 1590s, he and Raleigh travelled together from Ireland to the court at London, where Spenser presented part of his allegorical poem The Faerie Queene to Elizabeth I . </P> <P> Raleigh's management of his Irish estates ran into difficulties which contributed to a decline in his fortunes . In 1602, he sold the lands to Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, who subsequently prospered under kings James I and Charles I. Following Raleigh's death, members of his family approached Boyle for compensation on the ground that Raleigh had struck an improvident bargain . </P> <P> In 1584, Queen Elizabeth granted Raleigh a royal charter authorising him to explore, colonise and rule any "remote, heathen and barbarous lands, countries and territories, not actually possessed of any Christian Prince or inhabited by Christian People," in return for one - fifth of all the gold and silver that might be mined there . This charter specified that Raleigh had seven years in which to establish a settlement, or else lose his right to do so . Raleigh and Elizabeth intended that the venture should provide riches from the New World and a base from which to send privateers on raids against the treasure fleets of Spain . Raleigh himself never visited North America, although he led expeditions in 1595 and 1617 to the Orinoco River basin in South America in search of the golden city of El Dorado . Instead, he sent others to found the Roanoke Colony, later known as the "Lost Colony". </P> <P> These expeditions were funded primarily by Raleigh and his friends but never provided the steady stream of revenue necessary to maintain a colony in America . (Subsequent colonisation attempts in the early 17th century were made under the joint - stock Virginia Company, which was able to raise the capital necessary to create successful colonies .) </P>

Who led the first voyage to north america that was sponsored by raleigh