Overview and History[]
The Disappearance of the Roanoke Colony was an incident that occurred sometime between 1587 and 1590. The colony of Roanoke was founded in what is now Dare County, North Carolina, USA. It was founded by Ralph Lane, who was commissioned to do so by Sir Walter Raleigh to create the first permanent English settlement in North America. The colony had issues with supplies and had poor relations with neighboring native American tribes. A resupply mission by Sir Richard Grenville was delayed, so Lane left the colony to go with Sir Francis Drake back to England. Grenville arrived at Roanoke two weeks later and left a small military detachment there. During a stop to checkup on Grenville's men, the pilot of the flagship of John White's fleet, Simon Fernandes, forced White and his colonists to stay at Roanoke. In 1588, White went with Fernandes to England to resupply, but his return was delayed by the Anglo-Spanish War. When he returned in 1590, Roanoke was fortified but abandoned. It showed no signs of any major struggle. The mysterious word "CROATOAN" was carved into a tree, and White assumed this meant the colonists had moved to Croatoan Island. However, before he could investigate, rough seas forced White and his crew to return to England.
Interpretations[]
The fate of the colony's estimated 112-121 colonists is unknown. Some have theorized that the colonists had integrated into the nearby native American tribes, as there were reported sightings of seeing Europeans among native American tribes, but this has never been confirmed. Some investigations done by Jamestown colonists concluded that the Roanoke colonists were instead slaughtered by the tribes. Another hypothesis that the colonists decided to return to England on their own and got lost at sea. However, none of these theories explain the "CROATOAN" engraving on the tree. Ultimately, it is unknown for certain what happened to the colonists.[1]
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