John White: The Lost Colony Of Roanoke Theory

Jamestown is thought by most of to be the first colony in the New World but this is not the complete truth. Jamestown is considered our first successful colony; however it was not the first attempt at a colony. There were a few attempts to colonize the New World before Jamestown and one in particular that was the most mysterious is the Roanoke colony, also known as the Lost Colony. The colony got this name because the colonists that were there vanished mysteriously with no trace of what happened.

Jamestown is thought by most of our general population to be the first colony in the New World. This is only half true. Jamestown is considered our first successful colony, however it was not our first attempt at a colony. There were a few attempts to colonize the New World before Jamestown and one in particular that is found to be interesting is Roanoke also known as the Lost Colony. It received this name due to the fact that the colonists that settled this colony disappeared very mysteriously.

Upon his return, John White met with no indications of the deaths of the colonists. Linda Kramer states that John White and the colonists agreed that in the event of leaving Roanoke, the colonists in a noticeable location would engrave the name of the place to which they were departing and that an engraving of a Maltese cross above the name of the location would signal leaving because of danger (3). When White returned to the colony after three years of being absent, he discovered one of the signals the colonists promised to engrave if they left. The Article “Lost: An American Colony” describes what

The story of the Lost Colony has fascinated people across four centuries and remains one of the enduring mysteries of early America. There are several theories put forth to explain the disappearance, but despite efforts by historians, archeologists, and other investigators, the fate of these early colonists seems destined to remain a mystery.

The Roanoke was an important part in Virginia history, it was the first attempt for a permanent English settlement in the new world. It was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in the 1585 and he brought 100 colonists with him to Virginia and left them behind. Walter also had brought his daughter which soon gave birth to the first English child born in America. Her name was Virginia Dare. He had to go back to England because he had to fight in the Spanish war. He sent a fleet of ships in between the 3 years he was fighting but they did not make it to the settlement, instead they landed on a different island and the captain of the ship refused to go any farther than that island. When Raleigh returned 3 years later the only clues that him and the colonists that came with him found were the words CROA and CROATON carved into 2 trees. Before Raliegh had left them 3 years earlier he told them if there was was any trouble then to carve a cross in a tree. They searched all the trees around but did not find any crosses carved. But recently they have done a tree test on the wood that the word CROATON was carved into and they figured out that when he was gone there was extreme drought conditions that were going on while Raleigh was gone. Nobody really knows what happened to the settlement but there has been very educated guesses from historians. One guess came from a historian studying this subject ”That the croaton indian tribe 50 miles away might have something to do with it.” But the

After leaving for three years, the governor of Roanoke Island, John White, returned to find the settlement abandon. The only remaining clue was the word “CROATOAN” carved into a fence post and the letters “CRO” etched into a nearby tree. Several diverse theories have been suggested to explain the disappearance of the 120 missing colonist, ranging from disease to natural disaster.

On August, 1590, John White, the governor of the Roanoke colony returned to the island of Roanoke to discover that the colonials once inhabiting the land a few years ago, were now gone. All that was left was peaces of iron, armor, and some logs burning in a fire pit. It was 3 years ago when John White was voted to sail back to England, for the English colonists were in need of more supplies, since planting crops wasn’t at the time a possibility, do to the particular time of the year, and the English were attempting to establish permanent colonies, since previous colonies had failed. Before the disappearance of 17 colonists on the island of Roanoke, initially 108 colonials were at the island, the third attempt the English had made to establish a permanent colony. However, when these 108 colonists were discovered to be dead by a relief ship, 17 of the English were left behind to reinsure the property of the English would remain their property. These 17 colonials would meet a mysterious fate, one that historians are still trying to solve, with several theories established, but with little solid evidence. Years later, the question is still the same, what happened to the Roanoke colonists? However many theories that were established, there is 1 that resonates the most. This theory states that the English had gone to the nearby island of Croatoan, and proceeded to intermarry those a part of the Croatoan tribe, and

John White came to the New World with his family and one hundred and seventeen people. He had to leave to get supplies and returned to nothing left of the colony. There are many different versions of what happened to these people. Some are more popular than others are and some seem logical on the surface. Every clue or piece of evidence found just leads to more questions, not answers. Although these theories may seem logical, the mystery is not going to be solved with just logic alone. There needs to be evidence to back up these logical extensions of thought. Like with anything, there needs to be proper research and information found by credible sources before a conclusion can be made. This mystery can be

After supplies were running low, John White went back to England to gain some supplies, but his trip back to Roanoke was delayed due to the naval war between England and Spain and the need for every available ship to fight the war. Finally in 1590, John White and his group of men were given a boat to go back to the New World so he could bring supplies to his colony that he left behind. When they arrived, they had found that the colony had been deserted and there was no sign of life. As they first searched the island, all they found were the initials CRO carved into a tree. Deeper inland, White and his crew searched the island but all they found there was all of White’s goods all over the place and a mystery word carved into a place: CROATOAN. After discovering this, John White had remembered about the secret code he had made with the colonists and he told them to write any clues or hints to as where they were going to do or go. The next day, White and his men were off to Croatoan Island in search of the colonists but when they arrived they had found nobody of the ones who stayed behind, even White’s

Roanoke was a small island that was one of the first attempts to be inhabited by settlers. The most evidence to show and explain how Colonists of Roanoke disappeared after three years also supports the most logical answer: That the English simply forgot to restock the supplies needed to keep a thriving Colony going. The weather would have been difficult if they had gone to create their own Colony, as the fact of illness could also support. The word carved into the log; Croatoan could have been what the settlers called themselves. They could have written the name on the log when the first arrived to stake out their territory just as Spain did when they arrived to America. Although it is thought that the Roanoke colony was adopted by neighboring

Jamestown Virginia is the first successful colony of the english. The first colony established in north America its colony had belong to an english colony it was the first successful. Colony but there ad been another colony that had failed the colony of Roanoke. It was unsuccessful trying to be establish the colony that is what we now north carolina. Sir Walter Raleigh he was an explore for the english he unsuccessfully tried to sponsor a settlement there in 1585 but supplies had run low and the settlers abandoned it less than one year later about two years later in 1587 John white and more english colonists about 100 of them came to the same place were Walter Raleigh had settled to

John White wrote about his return to the missing Roanoke colony; White talks about the colonists’ previous plan to migrate elsewhere if conditions became too unbearable. In an excerpt from "The fift voyage of Master John White into the West Indies and parts of America called Virginia, in the yeere 1590" John White states, “…for at my comming away they were prepared to remove from Roanoak 50 miles to the maine. Therefore at my departure from them in Anno 1587 I willed them, that if they should happen to be distressed in any of those places, that then they should carve over the letters or name..”. Consequently, in the same excerpt White points out that there was no sign of distress, only a tree with the carving of the word CROTOAN. John White also records finding chests scavenged over by savages; “At our returne from the Creeke, some of our Saylers meeting us, tolde us that they had found where divers chests had bene hidden, and long sithence digged up againe and broken up, and much of the goods in them spoyled and scattered about, but nothing left, of such things as the Savages knew any use of, undefaced.” Comparatively, these events point at one outcome: The colonists left the island to pursue materials needed for survival, unable to take with them invaluable objects, and had assimilated with the native peoples. Similarly, John White accounts for this saying,

In Europe many countries felt the need to take smaller, unconquered lands in order to spread and increase their power. Queen Elizabeth funded many expeditions, one being Sir Walter Raleigh’s voyage in July of 1585 to the island off the coast of what would later be called North Carolina. The Native Americans called this island Roanoke, but to nobody's surprise it was renamed by the English and called Virginia, named after the “Virgin” Queen Elizabeth. The colony on Roanoke failed within a year.

Roanoke was made out to be the ideal location for colonization and would bring profit and prosperity to the English; however, the same thing could be said about any piece of land with enough smoke and mirrors to cover up the truth. With evidence from historical documents, the numerous failures in colonizing Roanoke proved that the colony would never come into fruition. Although Roanoke brought little success, those in charge of the plan continued to promote the colony inaccurately focusing more on the potential that had yet been realized rather than the lack of supplies and conflict with Native Americans.

The mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke is a puzzling mystery about what happened to the first English settlers in America. The question is, what actually happened to them, because even with evidence and research no one knows for absolute certain what actually did happen. The disappearance of an entire colony, who left behind a dismantled settlement and the word "Croatoan" etched into a tree has stumped many archaeologists. Countless theories have arisen, some more outrageous than the rest. Were they killed by Indians? Taken by aliens? Abducted? Sabotaged? The mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke has an abundance of theories, but the most plausible is that the colonist were assimilated into the Lumbee tribe.