Lillie Kuhn

8/23/16
Lost Colony Of Roanoke
A.

In 1584, Queen Elizabeth of England sent Sir Walter Raleigh on an expedition to

the New World. She wanted him to discover new land in which they could send
privateers from to invade the Spanish. Sir Walter Raleigh landed upon the outer banks
of North Carolina and what is now known as Roanoke Island. The English explorers
soon met the Native Americans on the island and started to establish the colony of
Roanoke.

B.

Queen Elizabeths English explorers first had peaceful contact with the Native

Americans of North Carolina, thus proving that the island of Roanoke would be a good
place to establish a new colony. As the English privateering base was growing, the
Native Americans kept trading and helping the English with their crops and new village.
But, while the Natives and English were trading, one of the Native Americans took an
English mans silver cup as he thought it was a gift. The English settler became furious
that the Native stole his cup therefore he commanded the English men to burn down the
Natives village. This event first started the decline of the English and Native Americans
relationship on the island of Roanoke. Soon after the burning of their village, the Native
Americans slowly left the Island of Roanoke. During the harsh winter, the English went
to the Native Americans for food as they had ran out. But, the Natives remembered
what the English had done to their village and refused to give them food. The English

were left starving and soon became hostile, they started another fight with the Native
Americans and killed many more of their men. After the second attack by the English,
the Natives lost all trust for the English and were waiting to strike back. John White, the
leader of the English at the time of the attack, was sent back to England to get more
supplies. The English men thought that if he was gone then problems with the Natives
would disintegrate, thus the 117 settlers of Roanoke were left alone with no leader. But,
in a small matter of time, the English and the Natives had ruined their peaceful
relationship and they were now at war again. The English had once relied heavily on the
Native Americans and this feud started the deterioration of the English colony of
Roanoke.

C.

As John White was sailing back home on an English privateering ship, the

settlers back at Roanoke were coming across problems with the Natives. John White
knew that the longer he was gone the more problems the settlers would come across.
Leaving his family and friends behind in Roanoke made John White eager to get back to
his loyal settlers. As soon as he returned back to England, he tried to convince the
Queen that he needed to leave. But, the Queen had different intentions for him, she
wanted him to go on a privateering expedition. After 3 years of privateering all over the
world, John white finally returned to Roanoke only to find that none of his family or
friends were there.

D.

John White returned to find only footprints in the sand, the 117 souls that used to

be there were gone. The only logical explanation seems to be that all of the English
settlers died from natural causes or left the island. The Native Americans on the island
of Roanoke probably got revenge on the English men and attacked them to wipe out
most of their population. The English settlers left on the island did write the word
Croatan on a post in their ruined village to symbolize they would be there, but that was
not the case. The English settlers were not found anywhere. The colony of Roanoke
was lost forever.