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Essay about Roanoke Colony

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The Lost Colony

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.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert and his half-brother Sir Walter Raleigh were both veterans of earlier colony efforts. In 1578 Gilbert managed to acquire a patent from Queen Elizabeth that would let him have exclusive rights for six years …show more content…

Reluctant to give up, he turned to private investors to finance another expedition. In 1585 his cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, was picked up to be the leader of a group to establish a colony on Roanoke. With him were 100 soldiers, craftsmen, and scholars to try and settle the colony. Under direction of Ralph Lane, the colony was doomed from the beginning.
The settlers had arrived late in the season which made it almost impossible to plant crops and supplies were depleting and to make things worse, Lane, a captain alienated the surrounding tribes and killed their chief over a stolen cup. After Ralph Lane and his men had had enough, they left the settlement and their fort not knowing that only a week later a supply ship from England had arrived. Finding the island deserted, the leader left fifteen men behind to hold the fort and went back to England for reinforcements.
In England, on January 7, 1587, a document allowing a government body to be created was signed and passed. This body was named the Governor and Assistants of the City of Roanoke in Virginia. Jon White, a skilled illustrator and map maker, was appointed Governor. On May 5, 1587 Raleigh decided to try again and boarded 117 men, seventeen women, and nine children for a more permanent settlement and sent them to the New World.
The original plan was to settle at Chesapeake Bay, but on July 22, 1587 the captain, Simao Fernandes, decided to

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