The Discovery of Guiana is a book by Sir Walter Raleigh, who wrote this account one year after his 1595 journey to "Guiana," the Venezuelan region of Guayana. He also visited Trinidad. The book includes some material of a factual nature, but postulates the existence of a gold-rich civilisation. Sir Walter Raleigh (circa 1554 - 29 October 1618) was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He rose rapidly in the favour of Queen Elizabeth I, and was knighted in 1585. Instrumental in the English colonisation of North America, Raleigh was granted a royal patent to explore Virginia, which paved the way for future English settlements.