Roanoke Colony The Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth I, funded the trip for 100 people to Colonize land in North America

Sir Walter Raleigh was in charge of this mission and escorted the people over to North 
America on a ship. After some time, Sir Walter Raleigh had to go back to England for more supplies 
for the new founders of Roanoke. The Colonists were not yet used to the climate 
or soil conditions of North America, and were not successful in growing enough 
crops to support their needs.

The people were left under the leadership of Ralph Lane, a soldier General. Under this leadership, the people started to make many fatal mistakes. They depended on the 
Indians to survive, as the supply boat had not returned. Even though they needed the Indians, 
they were not clever with how they treated them. When the colonists needed something, they 
kidnapped the Indians until they got what they wanted. They would hold the Native Americans 
hostage until they had what they needed. They basically acted like bullies.

Meanwhile, the supply boat was still delayed. The Native Americans were no longer willing to help the "White Man" and soon all supplies at Roanoke 
started to run out.

The colonists had no food, and no supplies and it looked like all would be lost. Just as they were 
about to give up hope, Sir Francis Drake, (Who was on a mission from England to destroy Spanish 
settlements in North America) arrived at Roanoke. Seeing the poor conditions, he gathered up the 
colonists and took them back to England.

Sir Walter Raleigh, who was still in England, was not ready to give up on being able to form a 
successful colony in North America, so he sent 115 new people to colonize there. Most were 
skilled farmers and workers Even with the skilled farmers and workers, the colonists were not successful in growing their own 
food, and soon had to send one of their own, John White, back to England for more supplies.

Unfortunately, England was in a war with Spain and Once John White got the ship full of 
supplies, he could not leave again due to fighting. It was three years before John White was able to get back to North America with supplies and 
to check on the other colonists. When he got back to Roanoke, there was no sign of the 
others. Even their houses were gone.

The only sign of the settlers were the letters CROATOAN carved on a gate post. Before John 
White could thoroughly search nearby islands and lands for his lost settlers, a hurricane hit. 
No one discovered what happened to the lost people of the Roanoke colony.