The Mystery of the Roanoke Colony

The Lost Colony of Roanoke remains one of America's oldest unsolved mysteries. Dating back to August 1587 when a group of around 115 settlers from England arrived on Roanoke Island, which is off the coast of modern day North Carolina, following a pervious attempt at settlement on Roanoke two years earlier.

John White, the governor of the new colony, was begged by settlers to set sail back to England in order to gather them new supplies. So, he decided to do so, leaving his wife, daughter, and newly born granddaughter, Virginia Dare, (the first English child born in America), behind. But, once upon his arrival to England, Spain declared war, and Queen Elizabeth I ordered every ship that was available to confront the Spanish Armada. This pushed White's departure back home to Roanoke back, he didn't set sail again for 3 years.

Finally in August 1590, White returned to Roanoke. He arrived back to discover that there was no trace of the colony or the settlers, there was little to no clues that pointed towards what could of happened. All that was left in the area was a single word, Croatoan, carved into a wooden post. White knew the settlers were considering moving, so he asked them to carve into a tree or a stone to communicate where they had gone if they decided to make this move while he was in England. So, upon seeing the word Croatoan carved into the post, he assumed the colony moved the settlement to a Croatoan Island, now known as Hatteras, which was located 6o miles south of Roanoke.

However, bad weather prevented White from visiting this island to investigate, he decided to spend the winter in the Caribbean and then locate the settlers in the spring, but as he set sail towards the Caribbean, his ship was pushed so off course, he gave up and head home to England. The colonists were never seen again.

Even though White hoped to return to Roanoke to find his wife, daughter and granddaughter, but his financier, Raleigh, was delved into other ventures that peaked his interest more. It was also at this time that Raleigh was attempting to gain monopoly over sassafras, leading to his imprisonment for treason.

It wasn't until 1603 that a search expedition attempted to locate the lost colony, but they were met with bad weather and the battle-ready Indigenous tribe of Chesapeake. Then, several years later, a Jamestown settler heard from the Powhatan a rumor of Europeans who were living amongst the Algonquin in the south, saying that they were dressed in European clothes and lived in stone houses.

Then, in 1622, the Powhatan attacked the Jamestown colony, killing one-third of the English speaking population there. This began to cause speculation that the Roanoke colony suffered the same fate.

As the Jamestown colonists were warred with Indigenous Americans, many European settlers assimilated into their nearby tribe. Maybe the Roanoke colonists did take up living with the Algonquin and adapted to their lifestyle. Europeans who were abandoned on the shores of the New World were likely to cast their lot with nearby tribes, since they knew how to survive.

Europeans joining these tribes continued into the eighteenth century. However, the idea of the massacred Roanoke colony gained popularity in the nineteenth century. And it was possible Europeans who choose to live among Native Americans went against the racist ideology of the century. White's granddaughter became a symbol of white supremacy around this time as well. But, some scholars say that it is likely Virginia Dare assimilated with the Algonquin, and that her own grandchildren may have never even realized that she was English.

With no concrete evidence that points towards the disappearance of the colony, scientists are still attempting to dig up what could have taken place.

in 2015, archeologists excavated a site they believed was an X on White's map that was covered with a patch, this was possibly to conceal the location of the colony if the document were to fall into the hands of the Spanish. The archeologists dubbed this area Site X, and upon excavation they discovered Elizabethan pottery, but this could of been brought over by later settlers.

And more recently in 2o20, a dig at Hatteras uncovered artifacts that could have belonged to the missing colonists, these finds included part of a sword and gun. According to these finds, scholars are now considering the possibility the colonists split into separate Algonquin Tribes.