RALEIGH'S FIRST EXPEDITION TO GUYANA

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One of the adventurers and explorers who believed in the existence of the golden city in Guyana was
the Englishman Sir Walter Raleigh, a businessman and explorer with military experience, who was also a
favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth herself was a bitter enemy of Spain with whom England
was at war during the last quarter of the sixteenth century.

In 1594, Raleigh sent an expedition led by Captain Jacob Whiddon to the Guyana region to obtain
information about Manoa. He returned to England with additional details of the myth. One year later,
Raleigh himself decided to sail to Guyana saying that, besides looking for gold, he was going there to
attack the Spaniards who had by this time established settlements on the Orinoco River.

While one of his main aims was to search for the golden city, Raleigh also planned to set up a colony in
Guyana to be used as a base from where, with the help of Amerindian allies, the Spanish would be
expelled from Peru and the treasures of that region sent to England.

Raleigh first stopped at Trinidad where he attacked the newly established Spanish colony and burnt the
capital, St. Joseph. With the Spanish Governor Antonio de Berrio as his prisoner, he then set off for the
Orinoco to search for Manoa. Berrio, who himself had attempted to find the golden city, tried to
discourage Raleigh explaining that he had lost hundreds of men, horses and cattle on his previous trips.

Raleigh and his captains, Lawrence Keymis and George Gifford, and 40 men set out in small boats in
their expedition up the Orinoco. (Ocean-going vessels could not pass through the Orinoco delta). For
many weeks they suffered severe privations, including the deaths by disease of some of the men, but
Raleigh urged the team to press on. Eventually, they arrived at an Amerindian village where they were
entertained and given gifts. The chief told them that a large gold mine was located about four days'
journey farther upriver, but after searching for it, the expedition did not find it.
Raleigh's men attacked a few small Spanish settlements on the Orinoco River, and explored a few of that
river's tributaries. They also questioned the Amerindians they met, but no one could provide them with
information about Manoa.

He left two young members of his crew with friendly Amerindians in the right bank of the Orinoco for
the purpose of learning the language of the natives. He also ordered them to learn the geography of the
country and to identify suitable sites on which to establish English colonies. It certainly was Raleigh's
intention of returning later.

After releasing Berrio, Raleigh returned to England with the feeling that the golden city could still be
found. He encouraged his countrymen to establish a colony in the Guyana region, and to win support
from the English queen and from investors, he advertised the country by describing his trip up the
Orinoco in his book, The Discoverie of the Large Rich and Bewtiful Empyre of Guyana.

He described Guyana as rich and beautiful, with glorious rivers and possessing several varieties of birds
and plants and delicious fruits. He stated: "Whatever prince shall possess it, that prince shall be lord of
more gold, and of more cities and people than either the King of Spain or the great Turk." But he also
wrote that in the interior was a tribe of Amerindians whose heads were below their shoulders!

Raleigh's book, which became very popular on the European continent, encouraged explorers to pay
attention to Guyana, and by the year 1600, English, French and Dutch ships were already trading in the
main rivers of the northern South American coast.