What Happened To The Roanoke Colony

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What happened to the people of the Roanoke colony, why did John White go back to England, did they relocate to a new location, were they murdered by Native Americans? The Roanoke colony disappearance is one of the first major American mysteries. After hundreds of years no one still has any clue what happened to any of the 100 plus people in the colony.
Why did over 100 people want to go to Roanoke? This wasn’t the first time that the English had tried to establish a colony at Roanoke. The first attempt did not go well but nonetheless years later they would attempt again with this group of people. Over 100 people sailed from England to Roanoke island in a late attempt by Queen Elizabeth I to finally establish a permanent settlement in North …show more content…

It took White three years to return because England was at war with Spain. When John White returned to Roanoke island he was shocked. He couldn’t find a single person on the island. All he found on Roanoke island was the word croatoan carved into a fence post. White believed the word croatoan to be referring to Croatoan island. White decided to try to go to Croatoan island. White tried three times to make it to Croatoan island but couldn’t due to terrible weather. White left the island without ever knowing what happened to members of his family or the other colonists. White believed that they had traveled to Croatoan island on their own accord. White had told the colonists that if they were taken against their will they should carve a cross into a tree, the only thing carved into a tree was part of the word Croatoan.
Many people, like John White, believe that the colonists relocated. One reason the colonists may have relocated was drought. The drought theory was first put forward by archeologists in 1998, “The Roanoke colonists -- and the Jamestown settlers who followed them a few years later -- arrived in the worst droughts of the last 800 years in that part of the country.” (Stevens) Due to this massive drought it is very possible that the colonists could have moved inward. The local Native American tribes could have attacked the colonists for food, which could have caused the colonists to relocate …show more content…

The idea that the colonists relocated to Croatoan island is the most accepted theory. One reason for why the colonists could have moved to Croatoan is friendship with a local Native American tribe. Many believe that the colonists moved to Croatoan island to live with a group of friendly Native Americans. This theory has a lot of evidence to back it up. Many English men visiting Native American tribes noticed white men living among them peacefully. The visiting English men also noticed two story houses. The visiting English men were very curious about these two story houses, they asked the Natives who said that they had learned how to build the two story houses from the Roanoke Colony. Many Native American tribes also claim to have white

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