How Do You Account For The Failure Of Roanoke Colony

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The story for the 400 year old mystery to find the lost Colony of Roanoke began on May 8th 1857. The group of One Hundred and Seventeen; men, women, and children set out to establish the Colony of Roanoke. The colonists leader was, Sir Walter Raleigh he was dispatched by Queen Elizabeth. The Queen wanted a settlement in the New World, the Roanoke Colony was supposed to be the England’s first. However the colony was an utter failure, within the first three years the Colonist vanished without a trace. The only clue left in Roanoke was a sign that read, “Croatoan”. After weeks of travel to get to the new world, the 117 Colonists disembarked their ship for the mainland. The Governor of the Roanoke colony was John White, who kept a journal. Whites journal states the colonists were more than eager for their colony to succeed. Particularly for the reason that Raleigh, had promised every man who …show more content…

The Colonies troubles start when one month after arrival, (August 1587) Governor John White returned to England for supplies. Supplies were so low because of a drought from (1587-1589). White was only supposed to be gone for 3 months, however due to the British war with Spain he was gone for three years. Once White finally returned in August of 1590, he found the colony deserted. His only clue to their location was the “Croatoan sign”. Croatoan was an island in the Outer Banks, Maneto the Croatoan Indian Chief was known for his kindness to the English. Before White could verify if any colonists were on Croatoan he was forced to return to England. There is also a possibility the colonist moved 50 miles westward, which is what they told White they were going to do before he departed in 1587. Experts believe the Lumbee Indians may have absorbed the Roanoke colonists. The evidence of this theory are the over 40 surnames from the original Roanoke colonists are found is the Lumbee

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