What happened at Roanoke? Roanoke was the first permanent English colony founded in North America and within 3 years all of the colonists had vanished. It is still a mystery. There are five basic theories. The colonists were killed by Native Americans. They were killed by the Spanish. They returned to England. They assimilated with local Native American tribes. They moved their colony somewhere else and were just never found.
The Americas had been discovered by the Spanish in 1492. They went on to create several colonies in South America and to wipe out most of the native populations. By the middle of the 16th century, they controlled most of the Americas as far as the middle of what is the current day USA. Explorers from England had traveled to the Americas, but they didn’t have the ability to establish any colonies of their own. That began to change into the end of the 16th century and England started to claim pieces of North America. One piece was claimed by Sir Walter Raleigh, the explorer who is probably most famous for bringing the potato and tobacco back to England. He wanted to settle the land he owned because if he didn’t get people living on it, he would lose the rights to the land. He sent over 300 men with instructions to build a colony and settle the land. There were problems with weather, ships sank, and only 100 people arrived with almost no supplies on Roanoke Island in 1585.
The area they colonized was probably farmable, but the people who came were not prepared for the conditions or the harshness of the climate. A local tribe of Native Americans called the Secotan gave them food and looked after them, but they soon grew tired of having to support the helpless colonists. The colonists ended up fighting the Native Americans and relationships were bad. The people were starving when a supply ship arrived in 1586 and most of the settlers gave up and sailed back to England on that ship. Raleigh still needed people there, so he sent another wave of settlers in 1587. These are the people that will vanish.
115 settlers attempted to make the best of a bad situation. Within a year, they had no food and they were starving. They persuaded their governor, John White, to sail back to England to get supplies. It would take about five weeks to get there, time to resupply, and another five weeks back. White made the journey reluctantly because his daughter and newborn granddaughter lived in the colony. He reached England, but couldn’t find a ship to sail him back. He wasn’t able to get back until 1590, two and a half years later, and when he arrived, there were no people. The fort had been dismantled and all of the houses were overgrown. The only clue was the word CROATOAN carved into a post. So, what happened?
The quick answer is that nobody knows. Here are the theories. The first is that they were killed by the Native Americans. That is likely because the first group of settlers had created very bad relationships with the closest tribe. The Native Americans had also come to realize that the English settlers were a threat. However, if they had killed the settlers, it is doubtful that they would have dismantled the fort. It is also unlikely that they would have left no bodies to become skeletons, and it is also unlikely that they would have killed the women and children. They would most likely have taken them as slaves and there would be some evidence of that.
The second theory is that the Spanish killed them. This is possible because the Spanish controlled most of the Americas and they were very wary of settlements from other countries. However, communications from the time show that the Spanish were looking for the settlement and didn’t actually know where it was. If they had found it, they would have left some kind of record.
Another theory is that they returned to England, but this is probably the least likely. They did have a ship, but they didn’t have enough food to eat in their colony, let alone provide for a five week journey across the Atlantic. Also, there would be some record of the settlers arriving in England, which there isn’t.
The fourth theory is that they assimilated with local native American tribes. This is possible. Not all of the tribes were against the settlers and there were some tribes that might have accepted them. They could have lived amongst the Native American and had children of their own. There were rumors of Native Americans with blue eyes and of tribespeople wearing western clothes, but there is no proof. Modern scientists have attempted to analyze the DNA of people from the area, but they haven’t found any proof.
The last theory is probably the most likely. Croatoan, the word carved on a post, was the name of an island. White’s daughter had said that if she was under duress, she would carve a cross somewhere, and the only carving was that place name, which suggests that they moved peacefully. There was a Native American tribe that lived on the island and the settlers could have settled with them. However, as with all of the other theories, there is no evidence. I guess this is a mystery that will never be solved. And this is what I learned today.
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Sources
https://www.livescience.com/vanished-colonists-at-roanoke
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony
https://www.history.com/news/what-happened-to-the-lost-colony-of-roanoke
https://www.worldhistory.org/timeline/Roanoke_Colony
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_European_colonization_of_North_America
https://www.history.com/topics/exploration/walter-raleigh
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