The British Empire had its origins in the late 1500s.
Queen Elizabeth I granted Walter Raleigh permission to found a colony on Roanoke Island, which is today a part of the United States of America, in 1585.
The settlers struggled to obtain food when their supplies ran out because they had lost the majority of them on the trek. They initially depended on the local indigenous people for food, but because of a lack of trust between the two groups, their interaction turned violent.
All of the colonists’ attempts to find a settlement on Roanoke Island were unsuccessful, and in 1590 they finally left the region. In 1607, Jamestown, which is now a part of the US state of Virginia, established the first prosperous colony.
REF: bbc.co.uk
PIC: bbc.co.uk, Historic UK, Encyclopedia Britannica, BBC