The Lost Colony Of Roanoke Colony Summary
The Lost Colony of Roanoke
On May 8th, 1585, Richard Grenville, a famous naval commander, set sail for the island of Roanoke, a small island off the coast of modern-day North Carolina. With the hopes of establishing a colony, John White, an explorer and artist, was appointed the role of Governor. The colonists arrived sometime in July of 1587. There were a few small attacks from local Native Americans within the first few months, and the colonists desperately wanted John White to return to England, and retrieve more supplies. So, on August 25th, 1587, just a month after arriving, White set sail to England to gather more supplies, leaving behind 115 colonists. 87 men, 17 women, and 11 children, including his own daughter, Eleanor White Dare, …show more content…
who had just given birth to a daughter and White’s granddaughter, Virginia Dare, the first baby born in North America to English Parents. It wasn’t until August 1590, three years later, that White would finally make his way back to the island. To his surprise, when White arrived, he found that the entire colony had vanished without a trace. The only clue left behind was the word Croatoan carved into a fence post, and the word and Cro carved into a tree. White then reportedly made 2 attempts to sail 50 miles to the Island of Croatoan. However, both attempts were foiled by storms. After his failed attempts, White returned to England and moved to Ireland where he passed away in 1593, never knowing what became of his family. To this day, nobody knows what became of the colony of Roanoke. Even more shocking, despite 115 people disappearing, no bodies or evidence of a mass grave have ever been found. Historians over the last hundreds of years have never found conclusive evidence of what might have happened, but plenty of people have constructed some conspiracies about what might have happened. That being said, Let’s jump into the theories.
The first theory is that the colonists were murdered by a local Native American tribe. Years before, the English made an attempt to colonize Roanoke, but they soon returned to England after attacks from some of the Native Americans they encountered, as well as a shortage of food. The governor of the first Roanoke colony, Ralph Lane, was not known for being peaceful with the Native Americans. Lane would go on to kill the king of the local tribe, Wingina, in an attempt to prevent the natives from rising up against the colonists. This urged Sir Francis Drake to come rescue the colonists and bring them back to England. Then, about a year later, in 1587, another group of colonists would arrive and vanish. As mentioned before, no mass graves or any large scale number of bodies have been found that could support the idea that over a hundred people were murdered.
The second theory is that the English colonists joined a nearby friendly Native American tribe and assimilated. One possible Native American ambassador was a man named Manteo who traveled to England in 1584, but also made a second year-long trip after that between the two Roanoke expeditions. In fact, He sailed back to Roanoke with John White and the new colonists in 1587, spending months together on the journey across the Atlantic. Furthermore, after Manteo was baptized upon his return to Roanoke, John White declared Manteo to be the chief of Roanoke and the Croatoan tribes, whom the English called the Croatan. However, Manteo was only from the Croatan tribe, not the Roanoke tribe. He could not control them, and so he ended up going back to Croatoan Island with his people, possibly returning at some point to Roanoke to take the colonists with him to Croatoan Island. In 1888, 54 Croatan native Americans petitioned Congress for aid, claiming they were remanence of White’s lost colony. A few months later, the directors of the Ethnological Bureau responded writing, “It was thought that traces of white blood could be discovered among the Indians, some among them having grey eyes.It is probable that the greater number of the colonists were killed, but it was quite in keeping with Indian usages that a greater or less number, especially women and children, should have been made captive and subsequently incorporated into the tribe.” In 2015, archeologists found a collection of objects of European origin on Hatteras Island, where the Croatan tribe resided. This included: broken bowls from England, the hilt of an iron rapier sword, and a writing tablet made of slate, that may have still had the letter M printed on it, and aglets. However, most of the European finds on Hatteras Island were among other objects that date back to the 1700’s, about 100 years after the disappearance of the Roanoke colony. Last but not least, this theory could explain the carving Croatoan the settlers left behind, perhaps as a clue to their whereabouts.
The third theory is that instead of moving to Croatoan, the colonists moved inland.
If you’ll recall, John White, the governor of Roanoke, was also an artist. He was also part of the original Roanoke expedition that failed. Between 1585 and 1583 he created a detailed watercolor map titled “La Virginea Pars” that shows the North Carolina coast and includes both Roanoke and Croatoan Island. The cartography of the map is thought to be extremely accurate and is described by museum experts as, the most careful, detailed piece of cartography for any part of North America to be made in the 16th century. When compared to modern satellite imagery of the same area, the only differences in the map are the naturally changing shapes of the coastline. At a glance, this seemed like nothing more than a regular map. But, upon closer inspection, this map was revealed to perhaps hide secrets. In 2012, a nonprofit organization called the First Colony Foundation requested that the British Museum reexamined two small patches on the map. Using patches to cover mistakes or damage was a common technique in 16th century map making, because maps took so much time and effort to make that starting over wasn’t an option. Using x-ray spectroscopy, infrared light, and other imagery techniques, the British Museum was able to discover that the patch was covering up a four-pointed star outlined in blue and filled in with red. “While the detailed interpretation of this symbol is beyond the scope of this study and is best left to experts in the field, it seems certain to represent a fort or fortification.” said the British Museums report. In other words, the star symbol may show the location of a fort inland from Roanoke Island, where the colonists may have resettled. When examined further, it was discovered that there are actually light marking over the possible fort on top of the patch as well. The British Museums report says that it’s probable that the markings just faded over time. But, it also
theorizes that the lines could reflect the use of invisible ink. An ink that would be revealed when treated in some way, usually by applying heat. This could be accomplished by using lemon juice and milk. If the fort was indeed intended to be hidden, why the secrecy? Some say that White could have wanted to hide the colony’s location from the English court, which may have contained spies. Whatever the marks indicate, they believe this evidence supports the idea that the settlers could have left Roanoke Island for this inland location. John White himself made an indirect reference to a location 50 miles inland from Roanoke Island in his account from what happened when he returned. Excavations of this site have turned up evidence of Europeans, including pieces of ceramics and aglets. This is the best indication of tying the location to Roanoke colonists as the items can without a doubt, be dated to the same exact timeframe.
Even if it’s eventually confirmed that the colonists moved inland or to Croatoan Island, many unanswered questions still remain. Such as why did they leave Roanoke Island? Or what happened to them afterward? In the end, the mystery of Roanoke continues to baffle just about everyone. What happened to the lost colony of Roanoke still remains unsolved. What do you think happened?
On May 8th, 1585, Richard Grenville, a famous naval commander, set sail for the island of Roanoke, a small island off the coast of modern-day North Carolina. With the hopes of establishing a colony, John White, an explorer and artist, was appointed the role of Governor. The colonists arrived sometime in July of 1587. There were a few small attacks from local Native Americans within the first few months, and the colonists desperately wanted John White to return to England, and retrieve more supplies. So, on August 25th, 1587, just a month after arriving, White set sail to England to gather more supplies, leaving behind 115 colonists. 87 men, 17 women, and 11 children, including his own daughter, Eleanor White Dare, …show more content…
who had just given birth to a daughter and White’s granddaughter, Virginia Dare, the first baby born in North America to English Parents. It wasn’t until August 1590, three years later, that White would finally make his way back to the island. To his surprise, when White arrived, he found that the entire colony had vanished without a trace. The only clue left behind was the word Croatoan carved into a fence post, and the word and Cro carved into a tree. White then reportedly made 2 attempts to sail 50 miles to the Island of Croatoan. However, both attempts were foiled by storms. After his failed attempts, White returned to England and moved to Ireland where he passed away in 1593, never knowing what became of his family. To this day, nobody knows what became of the colony of Roanoke. Even more shocking, despite 115 people disappearing, no bodies or evidence of a mass grave have ever been found. Historians over the last hundreds of years have never found conclusive evidence of what might have happened, but plenty of people have constructed some conspiracies about what might have happened. That being said, Let’s jump into the theories.
The first theory is that the colonists were murdered by a local Native American tribe. Years before, the English made an attempt to colonize Roanoke, but they soon returned to England after attacks from some of the Native Americans they encountered, as well as a shortage of food. The governor of the first Roanoke colony, Ralph Lane, was not known for being peaceful with the Native Americans. Lane would go on to kill the king of the local tribe, Wingina, in an attempt to prevent the natives from rising up against the colonists. This urged Sir Francis Drake to come rescue the colonists and bring them back to England. Then, about a year later, in 1587, another group of colonists would arrive and vanish. As mentioned before, no mass graves or any large scale number of bodies have been found that could support the idea that over a hundred people were murdered.
The second theory is that the English colonists joined a nearby friendly Native American tribe and assimilated. One possible Native American ambassador was a man named Manteo who traveled to England in 1584, but also made a second year-long trip after that between the two Roanoke expeditions. In fact, He sailed back to Roanoke with John White and the new colonists in 1587, spending months together on the journey across the Atlantic. Furthermore, after Manteo was baptized upon his return to Roanoke, John White declared Manteo to be the chief of Roanoke and the Croatoan tribes, whom the English called the Croatan. However, Manteo was only from the Croatan tribe, not the Roanoke tribe. He could not control them, and so he ended up going back to Croatoan Island with his people, possibly returning at some point to Roanoke to take the colonists with him to Croatoan Island. In 1888, 54 Croatan native Americans petitioned Congress for aid, claiming they were remanence of White’s lost colony. A few months later, the directors of the Ethnological Bureau responded writing, “It was thought that traces of white blood could be discovered among the Indians, some among them having grey eyes.It is probable that the greater number of the colonists were killed, but it was quite in keeping with Indian usages that a greater or less number, especially women and children, should have been made captive and subsequently incorporated into the tribe.” In 2015, archeologists found a collection of objects of European origin on Hatteras Island, where the Croatan tribe resided. This included: broken bowls from England, the hilt of an iron rapier sword, and a writing tablet made of slate, that may have still had the letter M printed on it, and aglets. However, most of the European finds on Hatteras Island were among other objects that date back to the 1700’s, about 100 years after the disappearance of the Roanoke colony. Last but not least, this theory could explain the carving Croatoan the settlers left behind, perhaps as a clue to their whereabouts.
The third theory is that instead of moving to Croatoan, the colonists moved inland.
If you’ll recall, John White, the governor of Roanoke, was also an artist. He was also part of the original Roanoke expedition that failed. Between 1585 and 1583 he created a detailed watercolor map titled “La Virginea Pars” that shows the North Carolina coast and includes both Roanoke and Croatoan Island. The cartography of the map is thought to be extremely accurate and is described by museum experts as, the most careful, detailed piece of cartography for any part of North America to be made in the 16th century. When compared to modern satellite imagery of the same area, the only differences in the map are the naturally changing shapes of the coastline. At a glance, this seemed like nothing more than a regular map. But, upon closer inspection, this map was revealed to perhaps hide secrets. In 2012, a nonprofit organization called the First Colony Foundation requested that the British Museum reexamined two small patches on the map. Using patches to cover mistakes or damage was a common technique in 16th century map making, because maps took so much time and effort to make that starting over wasn’t an option. Using x-ray spectroscopy, infrared light, and other imagery techniques, the British Museum was able to discover that the patch was covering up a four-pointed star outlined in blue and filled in with red. “While the detailed interpretation of this symbol is beyond the scope of this study and is best left to experts in the field, it seems certain to represent a fort or fortification.” said the British Museums report. In other words, the star symbol may show the location of a fort inland from Roanoke Island, where the colonists may have resettled. When examined further, it was discovered that there are actually light marking over the possible fort on top of the patch as well. The British Museums report says that it’s probable that the markings just faded over time. But, it also
theorizes that the lines could reflect the use of invisible ink. An ink that would be revealed when treated in some way, usually by applying heat. This could be accomplished by using lemon juice and milk. If the fort was indeed intended to be hidden, why the secrecy? Some say that White could have wanted to hide the colony’s location from the English court, which may have contained spies. Whatever the marks indicate, they believe this evidence supports the idea that the settlers could have left Roanoke Island for this inland location. John White himself made an indirect reference to a location 50 miles inland from Roanoke Island in his account from what happened when he returned. Excavations of this site have turned up evidence of Europeans, including pieces of ceramics and aglets. This is the best indication of tying the location to Roanoke colonists as the items can without a doubt, be dated to the same exact timeframe.
Even if it’s eventually confirmed that the colonists moved inland or to Croatoan Island, many unanswered questions still remain. Such as why did they leave Roanoke Island? Or what happened to them afterward? In the end, the mystery of Roanoke continues to baffle just about everyone. What happened to the lost colony of Roanoke still remains unsolved. What do you think happened?