The Lost Colony : The Lost Colony Of Roanoke

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.

“Land Ho”! In the year of, 117 colonists arrive at the shore of, nowadays, North Carolina (Drye Willie, 2004). On the ship the ship is a pregnant women also known as Eleanor Dare, daughter of John White, and the mother of Virginia Dare; the first English born American child. The Roanoke colony is one of the first American mysteries that no one has yet solved. There are a lot of theories regarding this tragedy. Some say that they drowned, and others say that they merged with the Indians living near by the colonists. Based upon research, the theory that appeared the most logical was that the Indians murdered the colonists. Not only because it’s one of the well-known theories, but also because it seemed probable.

The Starving Time document was an excerpt from John Smith’s book The Generall Historie of Virginia. The starving time took place in a colony named Jamestown. The Jamestown colony was located in modern day Jamestown, Virginia and named after King James I. The purpose of its founding was to find gold and wealth, like the Spaniards did in South America. But to no avail, most of the people died after several months. In Jamestown, there were many major issues that prevented them from reaching their goal, and they include hostilities with the native people and the lack of supplies.

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.

For centuries, the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island has been a controversial issue. Many theories exist that explain the disappearance of the colony. Some theories suggest that the colonists left the island to live with friendly neighboring Indians. Others suggest that a hurricane wiped out the colony or that a savage Indian tribe massacred them. The possibility of disease destroying them is also a debated topic. However, evidence indicates that the men and women left behind on Roanoke Island did not die because of massacre, disease, or starvation but went to live with the Croatoan Indians.

In spite of the many Indian massacres, Jamestown still grew to be a successful colony. The London Company was the main founder of Jamestown. The London Company's founders believed that there were precious metals in America so they sent a group of settlers to Jamestown. The trip to the Americas was not a very easy one for these settlers. They had to overcome many obstacles just to get to the Americas. In 1619 the House of Burgesses was formed which marked the first legislative body in America. Jamestown was plagued by many disasters. They were faced with one continuous disaster, Indian wars. They fought over land with Indians for many years. The London Company, creation of the colony, and

On July 22, 1587, long before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock, 117 hopeful colonists from England landed ashore onto a tiny island along the coast of what is today North Carolina. The group unpacked and founded a settlement, Roanoke Island. Then they vanished without a trace.

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

Throughout the 17th century, the English faced many hardships. The settlers of Jamestown had faced misfortune of the new land such as disease and malnutrition, and failure of crops. Over time the English built their economic and social structure with perfecting crops, indentured slaves and building a new society that would spark others to explore.

In the opening pages of A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America, the author, Tony Horwitz, conveys:

It was the age of discovery that first provoked intrigue and curiosity of new lands, particularly the Americas, and how the Europeans could expand to fit their society within the borders of this unknown and unexplored land. By the 1580s, more had been learned about the Americas, but any colonization until this point had not even been attempted. And so it was the English, under Queen Elizabeth I's rule, that were issued to establish a colony along the east coast of North America. However, when this great accomplishment was finally made in 1587, it was not long founded until its ultimate fate ended in the disappearance of the colony three years later, instantly creating one of the greatest

The Roanoke colony was located on the Roanoke Island, in Dare County. This is where North Carolina is located today. In 1584, explorers Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe were the first Europeans to set view the island. They were sent to that particular region by Sir Walter Raleigh with the assignment of exploring the extensive sounds and estuaries in hunt of an ideal location for settlement. Barlowe wrote bright information of Roanoke Island, and when the explorers returned to England a year afterward with two Natives, Manteo and Wanchese, all of London was abuzz with chat of the New World’s wonders.Queen Elizabeth, impressed with the results of the reconnaissance voyage, knighted Raleigh as a reward. The new ground was named “Virginia” in

The Roanoke Colony was a successful colony for about three years; however, one day when a ship came to deliver food to the colony they realized that all of the colonist had vanished and all that remained was a word carved into a nearby tree in some foreign language. I believe that the Roanoke Colony was murdered by a group of Native Americans nearby that maybe wanted some sort of revenge for the deaths of their people. The reason behind my thinking is because of the word that was carved into the nearby tree sounded as if it could have came from a Native. It also believed that some Natives practiced cannibalism so maybe that's why no bodies were left behind. Lastly, another reason that the disappearance could be the Natives doing, is that maybe

For hundreds of years the story of The Lost Colony has been told to children for generations. Contrastly, as time trickles by we find out more information about the “Lost Colony”. Most people believe that Roanoke were killed by the Spanish. However, because of recent discoveries. Roanoke must have been forced to relocate because of a drought in route to Chowan River and intermarried with Native Americans because of these new revelations.

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.