He was outstanding for his initiative and originality, if not for his successes, but it is in his efforts at colonisation that he had most influence. Ireland ended up as a brutal disaster (Ulster and Munster were afterwards forcibly colonised by the English), but the American adventure did eventually flourish. The formality of his annexation of Newfoundland eventually achieved reality in 1610. Perhaps of more significance was the issuance of a royal charter to Raleigh in 1584, based in part from Gilbert's earlier patent; with this backing he undertook the Roanoke expeditions, the first sustained attempt by the English crown to establish colonies in North America.