Roanoke Colony

The Roanoke Colony The Roanoke colony, a settlement now looked at through the eyes of curiosity. What happened to them? Why did it happen? Will we ever find out what really happened? These are the questions that come to mind when anyone who has heard about the Roanoke colony think about this mysterious event. Many people hope to answer these questions and I am one of them. We may never know what really happened, so the best we can do is narrow it down to a few possibilities that are much more plausible than the rest. That is the goal of this paper and hopefully it will accomplish just that. The Roanoke colony was one of the first ever British colonies in the Americas, even before James town. It was a little island, about 8 miles long and 3 miles wide, off of the coast of North Carolina. “The first English Colony of Roanoke, originally consisting of 100 householders, was founded in 1585, 22 years before Jamestown and 37 years before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, under the ultimate authority of Sir Walter Raleigh.” Notice how this quote says “The first English Colony of Roanoke”. There were 2 colonies made on Roanoke Island. The first went back to England and left only a few behind, and the ones left behind perished as the second entire colony would a few years later. “In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh had was granted a patent by Queen Elizabeth I to

colonize America.” As a direct result of this happening, the beginning of the Roanoke colony was begun. The reasons the settlers came to Roanoke were to colonize the Americas and also because they were all given 500 acres of free land and some power in the government that was to be constructed in Roanoke. The settlers were taken to Roanoke Island by Sir Walter Raleigh. After the first attempt of settlement failed the new settlers were taken to Roanoke and led by John White in 1587. This second group of settlers consisted of 118 colonists all of which would soon disappear forever. As for England