The Mystery of the Disappearance 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.

The Lost Colony- English settlers first came to the island of Roanoke in 1585. The colony that they established ended up failing. They started battling American Indians but did not have enough supplies. John White was sent back to England for supplies. When he returned to Roanoke Island in 1590 everyone was gone.

The Lost Colony of Roanoke, one of the greatest mysteries of American history. The story takes place during the time of America’s birth when English families first began to trickle into the new land of opportunity and adventure. You may have been told Jamestown was the first to stake the English flag on American soil. Well, I am here to tell you, you have been lied to. On the 22nd of July, 1587, 120 English colonists settled into the new world off the coast of North Carolina (Balan). They named their colony Roanoke and began to lay foundations for the first English settlement in America, but life was difficult for the colonists and with hurricane season on the horizon, John White, the governor, and leader of Roanoke set sail to England for

Spain had put together a mighty fleet of ships called the Spanish Armada. This caused Queen Elizabeth to order all English ships discontinue normal business and join the effort to fight off the Spanish fleet. Due to this and other mishaps, White did not get back to the city of Raleigh until August of 1597 which was three years later. Coincidentally, the colonist of Raleigh were gone just as the colonist of Greenville that were left before them. There are many different possibilities that may have occurred. It is one of the greatest mysteries with various view points.

John White was appointed Governor of the colony by Sir Walter Raleigh. Sometime later, Governor White set sail for England to gather supplies for the colony. “Before he had left for England, White and the colonists had discussed leaving the settlement and founding the city of Raleigh on the mainland, so the fact that the colonists were no longer in the settlement would not have been surprising to White. The colonists also worked out signals to communicate with those who were coming to their assistance. For example, if they left due to an attack, they were supposed to carve a Maltese cross over their doorposts to signal that they were in distress. Alternatively, if they left to try to find a more suitable place, they were supposed to carve the names of the areas they would be traveling through so that White would be able to find them upon his

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

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 founded by Sir Walter Raleigh. The colony disappeared as the Anglo Spanish War was going on in 1590, three years after the last shipment of supplies from England to Roanoke. When Roanoke disappeared this gave it the nickname "The Lost Colony." There has been no exact evidence as to what happened to the colonists who disappeared. The only hint to what happened was a carving on a tree trunk that said “Croatoan”. Croatoan was small group of native americans that lived by Roanoke.

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.

John White had reluctantly left the colonists for supplies in England. He did not want to leave

The two previous expeditions that had been sent to this region by Sir Walter Raleigh had been unsuccessful in establishing a settlement. The first group had simply returned to England. The second group had left fifteen men to stay on the island to start a colony. The third group had expected to find these men when they arrived, but the logs of Fort Raleigh had been pulled down. One corpse was found and it became clear that the destiny of the others was not good, and none had survived (“The Lost Colony of Roanoke” 2).

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.

Colonists arrived on Roanoke Island in 1587, with the hopes of becoming the first English colony in America (Bernstein 2:55). The colony was to be governed by John White and was composed of English families who wished to make a new home for themselves, among the colonists was John White 's daughter, Virginia Dare. Several months later the colony 's governor sailed back to England for supplies. The shortage of supplies was due to skirmishes with the Natives, loss of supplies due to storms, and with the time for planting over the colonists had no way to find enough food. John White promised to return as quickly as possible, but due to unforeseen circumstances was unable to return as soon as was expected. Three years later, John White returned only to find

Thesis: The plan of settling the American shoreline was executed when Queen Elizabeth granted a charter for Roanoke Colony to Sir Walter Raleigh. Although, due to deficient relations with the natives, negative geographical timing, and ineffective connections with the mother country (England) from foreign wars, the colonists of this first-ever English American settlement were cursed for failure.