Roanoke Island

In 1584, explorers Phillip Amanda and Arthur Barlowe were the first people to set eyes on Roanoke Island. It is explained to be characterized by thick marshlands and stands of live oaks teeming with wildlife. The explorers were sent there by Sir Walter Raleigh. HE was a poet soldier and a statesman. The trip was for one specific reason, to search for an ideal location for settlement.

The queen was very pleased about what was being done. She was so please that she granted Raleigh a patent for all the lands he could occupy. He called the new land Virginia in honor of the Virgin Queen.

Raleigh recruited 117 men and women for a permanent settlement. When the people had got there they discovered that the Roanoke Indians had killed 15 men. They were forced to stay. On August 18 1587 Eleanor Dare gave birth to a girl. She named her Virginia. She was the first child to be bore on the American soil.

The new land needed supplies in order to stay alive so John White left for Brittan. Little did he know that he would never see his family again. He returned in two years eager to see his family back on the island but he never found anyone. He had only found a carving which read “craotok “. That meant that they had gone 50 miles up Maine. There was a terrible storm and he was forced to go back to Brittan. The people of Roanoke were never found for they had mysteriously disappeared.

Raleigh had given up hope for settlement, but in 1591 he had his hopes high again. He sent another expedition to America but it had failed. In 1595 he decided to go for himself. He ended up on Guiana instead of Virginia. 15 years later he tried once again and failed. He tried again in 1603. This time he sent Bartholomen Gilbert. He and his crew were killed by Indians.

After that tragic incident. Raleigh could no longer try anymore, because later he was imprisoned by the new king, King James I.