The Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke

Sir Walter Raleigh came to North America looking to find gold, and a Northwest passage. At the time he thought that there was a passage that went through america, to get to india and the spice islands. He also wanted to make a colony, because Spain was winning the colonial race.

Sir Walter Raleigh founded this colony in 1587, in North Carolina. He was given 6 years by Queen Elizabeth to create a new colony. He brought 90 men 20 women and 10 children to be the first settlers in Roanoke He also brought an artist named John White with him to paint what they saw, but he ended up being the Governor.

Once they got there they realized that they had not brought enough supplies to last them. The Native Americans were angry because earlier the English had accused them of stealing a silver cup, even though the Native Americans had denied that they had done so, but the english reacted in anger and violence. They ended up killing some of the Native Americans, and therefore they did not want to share their food with them when they needed it. Because of their lack of supplies John White Traveled back to England in 1588 to get more supplies.

John White returned three years later in 1591 and when he returned, everyone was gone. There were no colonists, and there was no trace of them, except for the word Croatoan carved into a tree. Croatoan was an island that was next to Roanoke. Some historian claim that they went to Croatoan, and some say that they went inland. Some also say that they went south and got killed by Powhatan.

Up to this day no one knows what happened in the 3 years that John White was gone. Were those people killed, or did they just move somewhere else? Nobody knows exactly what happened to the colony of Roanoke. There are many other theories about what could have happened to them, but there is no evidence to support them. It is now known as the lost colony of Roanoke.