Roanoke (The Lost Colony) Present Day North Carolina

Roanoke Island was the result of an attempt to establish a permanent settlement in North America Sir Walter Raleigh financed the exploration. His purpose was to gain more riches. He sent an expedition to Roanoke Island which was originally called Secotan. When they reached Roanoke, they found that the inhabitants of this area had been slaughtered.

The men returned to England and reported to Sir Walter Raleigh what had happened, but they also said that this was still a good place to try to establish a colony. In 1587 Sir Walter Raleigh sent a group of 150 colonists to inhabit the colony at Roanoke Island. There were men women and children. John White was their leader. He later became governor. His daughter and son-in-law were some of the colonists who came. His granddaughter Virginia Dare was the first English child born in the new world.

The area of Roanoke Island was first inhabited by American Indians. The Croatian Indians were friendly, but other tribes were not. The colonist feared them and feared for their safety. Relationship with the Native Americans was not good except for the friendly Croatians. Life in the settlement was hard because there was a shortage of food and they did not have the tools they needed to grow crops. The land was not good for growing crops either. (Stokes, M. 2007)

Late in 1587, White returned to England to get supplies and help for the colony. He planned to return quickly. Due to problems beyond his control he was not able to return to Roanoke until three years later. It was too late. Their supplies ran out.

In 1590 when White was finally able to return to Roanoke, there was no one to be found. His daughter and grandchild were among the missing colonists. Everyone had vanished. To this day, no one knows what happened to the colonists at Roanoke. That is why Roanoke is called “The Lost Colony”. No one knows what happened to them. (absoluteastronomy.com)

There has been some speculation of what may have happened to them: They could have all died from disease. They could have moved to another place. They may have been killed by the native Americans. They could have joined the Croatian tribe. (shadowlands.net) We may never know what happened to the “Lost Colony.”  

References Stokes, M., (2007). Roanoke Island: The Lost Colony. Retrieved from: http://ncpedia.org/history/colonial/roanoke-island Roanoke Colony, (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Roanoke_Colony The Lost Colony of Roanoke, 1588 (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://theshadowlands.net/roanoke.htm Yahoo Images, (2011) Retrieved from: http://yahooimages.com