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.