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Roanoke the Lost Colony

In: Historical Events

Submitted By tatterz
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Patrick Kieffer
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English 2327
14 June 2012
The Lost Colony of Roanoke Jamestown is considered by many historians to be the first established colony but it is not entirely accurate. Jamestown was indeed the first successful colony, but Jamestown was certainly not the first attempt at colonization. Several other attempts at colonizing the New World took place before Jamestown. One particular attempt at colonization is that the Roanoke colony, known to many as the Lost Colony. The colony was dubbed this name due to the fact that the people that inhabited the land mysteriously disappeared without a trace. Sir Humphrey Gilbert and his half-brother Sir Walter Raleigh were both veterans of earlier colony efforts. In 1578 Gilbert managed to acquire a patent from Queen Elizabeth that would let him have exclusive rights for six years to find any land he chose and build a successful colony. After numerous setbacks Sir Gilbert led an expedition and took possession of land called Newfoundland. He then continued down the coast to set up a military post in hopes that it would one day become a profitable colony. Unfortunately for Gilbert, he ran into a storm and he was lost at sea. Raleigh then dispatched 150 colonists in 1587 to establish a colony on the Chesapeake Bay. This expedition was led by the man John White, a friend of Raleigh who had accompanied Raleigh to previous expeditions to Roanoke. The team was ordered to travel to Roanoke to gather some men and supplies but they found nobody on the island. The commander of the fleet, Simon Fernandez, then insisted that they establish a new colony on Roanoke. The colonists soon found their situation to be dire and desperately needed help from England. With supplies running low and threatened by the Croatans, White sailed for England late in 1587 leaving his newly born granddaughter behind. It took White three years to finally return to Roanoke and what he found was a ghost town. The settlement was completely stripped of people, houses, and other shelter. The only remnants were some small cannons and the wooden perimeter with the words “Croatoan.” People have been speculating about the fate of these lost colonies for over 400 years. John White was convinced that the colonists gave up waiting for him to return and found refuge with the Croatoan people.

Works Cited
Miller, Lee. Roanoke : solving the mystery of the lost colony . 1st ed. New York: Arcade Pub, 2001. Print.

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