Imagine returning to the site of what was once a thriving colony of settlers only to find the village abandoned with no trace of the inhabitants. This happened on John White’s Island at Roanoke. The circumstances surrounding the removal of the Roanoke colony is one of the greatest mysteries in American history.
By 1587, England and its European allies had been crossing the Atlantic Ocean to explore the New World for over 50 years. Queen Elizabeth I realized that any nation can gain stability in these countries to a great advantage over its rivals. For this reason, he ordered Walter Raleigh to gather a group of colonists to claim land in North America.
Raleigh sent the first group in July 1585 to carry out the Queen’s wishes. This expedition was almost entirely composed of a few captains of soldiers. After arriving in the New World, the group decided to look for Roanoke Island as a hospitable place to live. Unfortunately, these men, although strong, were not well equipped to handle the task of surviving in a new land. A year after the group fell, the English explorer Francis Drake decided to stop and check the colony’s progress. What he found was a gathering of poor, starving people, who had arranged for one of the chiefs to kill the bad people of the local Indians. Draco rescued the embattled colonists and returned them to England.
The first attempt to establish British stability in North America had failed, but Raleigh was far from giving up. John White, who had been one of the students in the first colony project, led the new group to return to America.
White felt that one of the reasons he had failed to get the start-up done was because the people who were there had work to do and weren’t fully invested in the event. To problem solving, he thought that the best thing to do would be a composition composed of families. . each family would be given fifty acres of land in perpetuity and under the colonial government. It was difficult to find people willing to subject their families to the calamities of the new colonist’s land, but by 1587 Alba had gathered a mixed group of people. They started the transatlantic crossing in the spring with 91 men, 17 women and 9 children.
It had been decided that Roanoke Island was not the best place to grow crops, so the expedition set out with the goal of reaching the northern port of Roanoke, around Chesapeake Bay . Unfortunately, a lack of communication between those who made the plan and the pilot of the boat caused the colonists to return to Roanoke Island, claiming that no one had told him to bring them elsewhere. Despite White’s protests, the captain insists that they must all be detained at Roanoke.
Trying to make the best of the difficult situation, the White group repaired the fort and buildings that already existed from the previous campaign. The minimal utility of the existing structures was not enough to launch a colony. It turns out that the colony’s counselors were right when they decided that Roanoke should not be settled again. For a long time there were not enough supplies to support the colony in that place.
The ships that had transported the group from Europe were still anchored off the coast, waiting for the right wind conditions to return home. John White was chosen by the colonists to return to England with the ships and returned with what they needed. On August 27, 1587, he paid Alba. He left not only the group of colonists he had formed, but also a daughter and a newborn grandson. He awaited his return the following spring. That would be impossible.
Shortly after Albus returned to England, the Spanish Armada came to invade England. Queen Elizabeth would force all the necessary ships and men to defend the country, and would not allow White to sail to America. Even after the Armada was defeated, Elizabeth wanted to keep her ships nearby in case the Spanish attempted another attack. As a result, White was able to return to Roanoke three years ago.
When White finally landed on Roanoke Island, no one was there. The only evidence that the group could leave was the letters “C-R-O” carved into one tree and “Croatoan” inscribed on another tree. Before leaving for England, White and the colonists discussed the possibility that circumstances would compel a relocation north to the Chesapeake Bay area< /a> colonists had established. If they were going to do this, the plan was to carve it into a tree. If they were forced to move because of some danger, a cross would be carved on the same tree. When no cross was found written on either of the trees, Alba was left to believe that the movement was voluntary.
Croatoan was South Padre Island Roanoke, but based on the wood carving, he could only pick up this one place for White. they had gone He prepares to sail to the island, but fate again stops him. The season of the storm was fast approaching, and the strong winds made it too dangerous for the ships to remain at anchor on the shore. White was forced to return to England with his family.
John White was never able to return to the New World to look for his family and other settlers again. Even future expeditions could not find the “Lost Colony.”
Why would the inhabitants of Roanoke Island voluntarily leave when they knew that John White would return to his former place with provisions? Why would they move south when the plan was that, if they moved at all, they would move north? 117 How does a group of colonists seem to vanish into thin air? The mysteries of the mysterious Roanoke Island colony must never be solved.
