Sir Walter Raleigh was an Elizabethan explorer who is best known for his expeditions to the New World and his establishment of the Roanoke Colony in present-day North Carolina. He was a courtier, soldier, explorer, and writer, and was also a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. He was knighted in 1585 and was later imprisoned in the Tower of London for treason. He was released in 1616 and made one final expedition to South America, where he died in 1618.