Raleigh introduced several new products to England
It is important to note that Raleigh brought several significant discoveries to England during his trips, which is considered one of the most interesting facts about Sir Walter Raleigh. He may have introduced the potato to Europe, for instance. Sir Walter Raleigh brought the potato to Ireland for the first time in 1589. While on his trip to the Americas, Raleigh came across them, and he planted them at his Irish home in Myrtle. According to legend, Raleigh gave the Queen a potato as a present. In Ireland nowadays, potatoes are a staple food.
During the same journey, Sir Walter Raleigh, who had been to Guyana in pursuit of the mythical El Dorado, brought back tobacco as well. He didn't bring any old, but he returned with the two things. Although historians claim that tobacco was present in Europe before Raleigh's time, the explorer is frequently given credit for spreading the plant's popularity in England after Roanoke colonists returned and presented samples of the crop to the queen's court. Raleigh may have even persuaded Queen Elizabeth to smoke it. Consistent transatlantic commerce in this so-called "brown gold" started at the beginning of the 17th century.
Long after, in The Beatles' famed White Album song "I'm So Tired," guitarist John Lennon would mock Raleigh's use of tobacco: "Although I'm so tired, I'll have another cigarette/And curse Sir Walter Raleigh/He was such a stupid prat." You may still buy pipe tobacco under the Sir Walter Raleigh name today.
