The Mystery Of The Lost Colony Of Roanoke

The lost colony of Roanoke was a colony on an island off of the North Carolina coast. It is now located in the Outer Banks. Their governor returned to England for supplies, his return was delayed by a war between England and Spain. He returned three years later and found nothing but the buildings they built. It is believed the colonists split into many smaller groups and unified with local American indians. The main indian tribe they joined was the croatoins. There are many reasons why they left. We will explore the reasons why they left and where they went.

Years before Jamestown, in 1587 a man named John White and 117 men, women, and children sailed from England to the coast of what is now North Carolina. They did this in hopes of starting a new colony on the untenated territory of Roanoke Island. They established a temporary understanding with the native islanders and consummated the first baby in the New World, but soon afterwards problems arose. Supplies were quickly becoming scarce and issues started to arise between the settlers and the natives of the land. White returned to England in despair asking for help from Sir Walt Raleigh who had been the sponsor of the expedition. While he was successful in his voyage to convince Sir Walt by the time of his return all the settlers had vanished off the face of the Island.

This poses the question of What happened to the people of Roanoke? There are many different viewpoints of what occurred to the colonists and the goal here is to address each one of them. In England, a document signed on January 7, 1587, created

In 1587 a group of men, women, and children led by Sir John White set sail for America and landed on a North Carolina island called Roanoke (Shirley

America’s past is a mysterious one, riddled with unsolved questions and misleading legends. One of the most prominent enigmas that has haunted historians for centuries is the disappearance of the Roanoke Island Colony, also known to many as The Lost Colony.

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

Once again, supplies ran out, and White chose to return on his own to England to get more. When he landed in England, he found that his country was getting ready for war with Spain. For the next two years, no ships or sailors were available for a return trip to Roanoke. It wasn’t until August 1590, after the English defeated Spain, that White finally found ships to take him back to the colony (Horn, 2010).

What happened to the lost colony of Roanoke? It all began in 1587 when a group of Englishman settled in Roanoke. Food was scarce so Governor John White headed back to England to get them some supplies. It took him three long years to return and when he did much to his surprise no one was there to be found. Not even his wife and children. This has left a trail of theories throughout the years of what really happened but no one will ever really know.

The Roanoke colony was an attempt by Queen Elizabeth I to establish a permanent English settlement in the late 16th century. It is also referred to as “the lost colony” because the colonists disappeared during the Anglo – Spanish war three years after the last shipment of supplies from England. There is no conclusive evidence as to what happened to the colonists.

“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 Roanoke Voyages were England’s first attempt at settling in North America. Sir Walter Raleigh asked for Queen Elizabeth’s permission to begin exploration and she agreed to let him organize the expedition. However, he was not allowed to be physically involved in the actual voyages because she believed he was a valuable asset to her and did not want him travelling far away. The first expedition, in 1584, was an exploratory venture. Sir Walter Raleigh arranged for two ships to begin the exploration. The two captains of the ships were Arthur Barlowe and Philip Amadas. They discovered fertile land with plenty of game. The area, near the Pamlico and Currituck, would be a great place to begin settlement. In addition to their own accounts of the journey, they also brought back two native Americans, named Manteo and Wanchese, to help the English learn more about the land they may eventually colonize.

During the 1500’s, the English started their first attempts at colonizing in the New World. One of the first colonies to settle in North America was named after the island on which they settled. That island was named the Roanoke Island. After a while of living on the island the colony had to return to England, since there had been a shortage of food and they had been attacked by nearby indians multiple times. A second group of English settlers also tried to settle on the island, but got there too late. They were not able to farm nor did they have enough supplies for everyone. The colony failed to accomplish their settlement on the island and quickly went back to England. Afterwards , a third group of colonists decided to settle in the New World. When they went low on supplies, the leader of the group decided to return to England, but when he tried to return, he was delayed. He returned three years later to find that the colony had vanished mysteriously with no trace. Many historians and anthropologists indicate different theoretical possibilities such as; the colony simply left the settlement and somehow split up, decided to live with the neighbored, Croatoan indians, or were brutally attacked by the natives. Wherever the Roanoke Colony ended up we may never know and to this day it remains a popular, unsolvable mystery.

In the second attempt they were hoping to find the fifteen english men the left the year before. To their surprise they came to find the “fort razed down, but all the houses standing unhurt,”. The mystery of the lost colonist proves that Roanoke is an unsafe place since their colonist mysteriously disappeared. During their search they ended up in conflict with the indians, where the indians tricked them into an unarmed meeting to have a civil conversation, but ended up killing one of them. This showed that the Native Americans were not trustworthy,and which also contradicts Barlowe’s statement about them being gentle, loving, and faithful. In John White return he starts off with how dangerous it is to get there, and even when they got there the weather was still threatening that they couldn’t even anchor the boat. Unlike Barlowe and Lanes statements about Roanoke’s environment being so peaceful and calm this showed the true climate of Roanoke. White also tried looking for the groups of colonist he left the last time he went to Roanoke and couldn’t find any sign of them either. Both documents were showed similar experiences of the reality of

It is early in the morning of August 18, 1590. John White’s ship had just reached roanoke. He had not seen his colony for three years. He dashes to the wet sand of the beach, yearning to see everyone again. When White reached where he had left the settlement, his heart sank. There was no sign of his colony. The island of roanoke is a beautiful island. John White also had some goals for the colony. No one quite knows what happened to the people of

What makes history such an interesting subject to study are the many mysteries intertwined with in it. Over the years many of the mysteries have been solved. However, one of the most intriguing mysteries still remains unsolved and leaves us with a question that needs to be answered, what happened to the settlers of the Lost Colony of Roanoke? Since their disappearance historians have come up with multiple theories about what could have possibly happened. The most popular and widely accepted theory suggests that a hostile Native American tribe abducted the colonists and either killed them or made them slaves. An alternative theory suggests that the Spanish attacked the colony and killed the settlers. Another less credible, but still popular, theory is about the Dare Stones, a set of rocks that tell stories supposedly by the colonists which explain what happened to them. While all of these theories have some merit there are inconstancies within them that make each of them false. A lack of information and technology is what caused the flaws in these theories and make incorrect. However, thanks to advancement in technology and new information a recent scientific study can prove what happened to the colonists of Roanoke. This new theory can be used to explain the disappearance of the hundreds of colonists and finally shed light on a mystery that is centuries old.