Roanoke was a colony located on Roanoke Island that disappeared. The colony was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in the late 16th century on behalf of Queen Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth I had wanted to create a non-temporary English town in the United States. The colonists later disappeared during the Anglo-Spanish War while waiting for supplies from England. The last shipment of supplies that they had received had been three years prior and when Raleigh’s men returned both the colonists and city were gone, with no evidence of what had occurred.
The charter and financing for the colony had at first belonged to Sir Humphrey Gilbert. When Gilbert died in 1593 the charter was given to his half-brother Sir Walter Raleigh. Raleigh would go on to plan and execute the charter. The charter had stated that Raleigh had to “establish a colony in North America or he would lose his right to colonize” (Quinn, 1984). The intention of both Elizabeth and Raleigh was to enrich the crown through the riches discovered in the New World. Elizabeth had also wanted stronghold from which the English could oppose the Spanish. (Campbell-Dollaghan, 2015) Spain and England were at war and they had also wanted a stronghold from which they could send privateers against the Spanish ships (Fritz and Talbott, 2004). Raleigh never actually went to North America, preferring to lead expeditions to search for gold in South America.
The first expedition to the United States was dispatched on April 27, 1584. It was led by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe. The intent of the expedition was to look at the Atlantic coast of the United States. Amadas and Barlowe arrived at Roanoke Island on July 4th. The quickly establish a friendship of sorts with the Croatoans and the Secotans who were the local tribes. Soon Barlowe went back to England with more than one but less than three Croatoans, Manteo and Wanchese. He had brought them with him because they were able to explain both the political and geographical aspects of the island better then he could (Quinn, 1984). The information that they were able to provide led to a second expedition led by Sir Richard Greenville.
Greenville left Plymouth with five ships, the Dorothy, the Elizabeth, the Red Lion, the Roebuck and his ship the Tiger on April 9, 1585. The Tiger ended up separated from the rest of Greenville’s fleet when a really, really horrible storm struck off the coast of Portugal (Quinn, 1984). Fortunately, the captains of the ships had an agreement to wait for each other in Puerto Rico if they were separated. The Tiger arrived in May 1585. While he waited for the rest of his fleet Greenville established friendships with the Spanish living on the Island. He was also doing some “privateering against them” (Quinn, 1984). The Elizabeth showed up, soon after Greenville became tired of chilling and waiting for the other three ships and decided to leave on June 7th.
The Tiger then sailed through the Ocracoke Inlet, where it was struck by a shoal. The shoal destroyed much of the ship’s food supply (Quinn, 1984). The ship was repaired and in July 1585 it reconnected with the Roebuck, and the Dorothy. The Red Lion had been with the Dorothy, but the captain had decided to drop off his passengers and went to engage in some privateering in Newfoundland (Quinn, 1984). While waiting for the ship to be repaired there was an incident with the natives. The ship’s men accused one the natives of “stealing a silver cup”. This resulted in the Europeans burning down the village of Aquascogoc (Quinn, 1984). After this incident, despite the strained relations that then existed between the natives and the Europeans and the fact that there was little food, Greenville left a bunch of men to create a colony on the north side of Roanoke Island. He had said that he would return in April 1586 with additional men and more supplies.
Raleigh sent a group of 115 colonists to create a settlement on Chesapeake Bay in 1587. The colonists were directed by John White. White had been involved in the expedition to Roanoke and was later named Governor and was given 12 people to help him in establishing a colony. They were at some point ordered to check on Roanoke to see how the settlers were faring. When they got there in July 1587, they only found a skeleton (Blacker, 1965). The commander of the ships Simon Fernandez did not let the settlers reboard the ship. He had decided that they were going to create a new colony. (Milton, 2001). White made an effort to recreate a relationship with the natives. However, the tribes that Lane had issues with before refused to meet him. The colonists soon began to fear for their lives after George Howe was slaughtered by natives looking for crabs. The colonists then persuaded White went back to England in order to obtain assistance. White left 115 colonists which included many adults that had arrived after his initial group.
White returned to England during the latter part of 1587. Nevertheless, the supply fleet was delayed because the captain refused to travel back to the island in the winter. This was then followed by the attack of the Spanish Armada in England, which led to the Anglo-Spanish War. This meant that White no longer had a ship as everyone available was expected to join the war. White was finally able to obtain two small ships in 1588 and he returned to Roanoke. This plan was stopped by the captains of several other ships, who were trying to capture Spanish ships, so that they could rob them and gain their profits. White’s ship was captured and the supplies that were meant to the colonists were seized. White then returned to England as he had nothing to take to the colonies.
White was not able to return for another three years, when he was able to gain admittance on a privateer ship that had promised to stop at the Island on its return from the Caribbean. When White returned to Roanoke Colony on August 18, 1590. He found the colony deserted, with absolutely no trace of the 115 settlers that had remained there. The homes and the wall around the settlement had been torn down. This was evidence that the settlers had not left in a hurry and that they had made the choice to leave the settlement. Before leaving for England, White had told the remaining settlers to draw a Maltese Cross on a tree if anything had happened to them that would force them away from the settlement. One was not left, which again indicated that the settlers left of their own volition The only other piece of evidence regarding what happened to the settlers was the word CROATOAN which was carved into a fence post. White felt that this meant that the settlers had moved to Croatoan Island, a storm prevented him from executing a search of the island as his men refused to go to the island and they left the next day.
It was twelve years before Raleigh found it necessary to investigate what had happened to the colony of Roanoke. He sent an expedition led by Samuel Mace in 1602 to the island. In order to keep the sailors focused on the task at hand Raleigh guaranteed the sailor’s wages and brought his own ship. Raleigh, who wanted to profit off of the trip had Mace’s ship stop so that they could obtain spices and other aromatics. This delay resulted in weather becoming inclement and they returned to England without going to Roanoke. Raleigh was soon detained for treason and subsequently did not engage in any other expeditions to the New World. In 1590 the Spanish found remnants of the colony. They had wanted to eradicate it as they were aware of Raleigh’s plan to use it as England’s privateering base. When they found it, they though that it was nothing more than out-of-the-way base of the core colony. They thought the main colony was in the Chesapeake Bay region. Due to the war, the Spanish crown refused to send the resources needed to further investigate the area.
Throughout the years there have been many hypothesis regarding what happened to the colony of Roanoke. When Captain John Smith spoke to Chief Powhatan about what had happened to the colony in 1609. Powhatan supposedly admitted that he had killed the settlers himself. This account was seemingly confirmed by William Strachey in his book History of Travel Into Virginia Britannia. (Quinn, 1984). He said that the colonists who were residing amongst a tribe of natives for about twenty years were all slaughtered by Powhatan due to prophecies foretold by his religious leaders. Recent scholarship has found evidence that there were two separate massacres and that the settlers of Roanoke were not tangled up in either. Many scholars, in fact, believe that the settlers integrated with the local tribes after leaving the island. The Zuniga Map gives credence to this claim as it says that four clothed men came from Roanoke and were living with the Iroquois. Later the Hatteras who had gray eyes and blonde hair and were very friendly with the settlers claimed to have white ancestors, who are thought to be the lost colony of Roanoke.
References
Campbell-Dollaghan, K. (2015, September 9). New discoveries could explain what happened to the lost colony of Roanoke. Retrieved June 15, 2016, from http://gizmodo.com/new-discoveries-could-explain-what-happened-to-the-lost-1728576170
Fritz, J., & Talbott, H. (2004). The lost colony of Roanoke. New York: Penguin Group (USA).
Hakluyt, R., & Blacker, I. R. (1965). Hakluyt's voyages; the principal navigations, voyages, traffiques & discoveries of the English nation made by sea or over-land to the remote and farthest distant quarters of the earth at any time within the compasse of the 1600 yeeres. New York: Viking Press.Print
Milton, G. (2001). Big chief Elizabeth: The adventures and fate of the First English colonists in America. United States: Picador USA. Print
Quinn, D. B. (1984). Set fair for Roanoke: Voyages and colonies, 1584-1606. United States: University of North Carolina Press, Print
