Sir Walter Raleigh and the potato

Sir Francis Drake who was said to have claimed what is now California is credited with first bringing the potato to Elizabeth I in England. He was awarded a knighthood. Originally believed to have been domesticated by indigenous people of South America. Potatoes have been identified as part of the design on ancient Chilean pottery and vessels. Date unknown. They are believed to have provided the principle energy source for the Inca civilisation. They then became known throughout Europe and the world.
Sir Walter Raleigh has also been associated with the potato. He was granted a royal charter to explore and exploit various lands he encountered, reportedly in return for 1/5 of any gold or silver mined there. According to reports he was a mayor of Youghal, County Cork, believed to be strategically important, in 1588 and 1599.
According to documentation he invaded Ireland in 1580. Later he became a landlord of consficated property of the Irish. He isn’t believed to have spent too much time in Ireland but was reported to be part of an inner circle belonging to Elizabeth I because of his efforts at increasing the protestant church in Ireland.
He fell out of royal favour a number of times, documented, and was beheaded under James I, on the death of Elizabeth I.
Raleigh, having run into difficulties, sold land to Richard Boyle, first earl of Cork in 1602. The Boyles prospered under James I and Charles I but were approached by Raleigh’s family on his death for compensation, believing the sale of the lands unfair.
Landlords extracted as called rent from the Irish in the form of most of their produce. The potato was introduced, some say by an English man named Murphy. No details. The Irish were given crops to keep them alive, which they did until the great famine, 1845-1849, when a potato disease was documented. There followed a period of mass starvation. An estimated one million people died and the same amount are believed to have emigrated, mainly to the u.s.