THE LOST COLONY OF ROANOKE

INTRODUCTION

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Before the founding and establishment of Jamestown, England made several previous attempts to begin colonies in the New World. One of the colonies that England established before Jamestown was Roanoke Colony. Led by John White, the Roanoke Colony and its people became one of the earliest historical mysteries to ever occur.

OCCURRENCE

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Before John White, Ralph Lane actually led a previous expedition to Roanoke. However, Lane’s colony suffered a host of problems which included Native American tribal attacks and food shortages. As a result, the colony retreated back to England. White would make the second expedition to Roanoke with around 115 colonists (sources vary in the colony’s true population) and arrive at Roanoke in 1587. Just as Lane’s colony, the new colony suffered extensive attacks from the nearby tribes. The people begged White to return to England and bring back more food, supplies, and people. White agreed, and left Roanoke approximately a month later, leaving the colonists behind.

However, White would not return to the colony until three years later. Spain and England had an ongoing dispute, and because the Spanish Armada at the time was particularly powerful, White was unable to sail back to Roanoke until 1590. The men who came along noticed smoke columns coming from the colony, but did not investigate. They also spotted a fire nearby, but again decided to not look into it. That night, the men sang English songs in the hope that the colonists would hear. On August 18th, they began investigating the island and made startling discoveries. All of the colonists were nowhere to be found, and the only clues that were left behind were the words “CRO” and “CROATOAN” inscribed onto a tree and a post, respectively. The very first picture in this article demonstrates how the word “CROATOAN” was discovered. Initially, White assumed this meant the colonists peacefully moved to nearby Croatoan Island. The houses left by the colonists were dismantled and looted. Several expeditions attempted to go find the colonists in Croatoan Island, but they all failed due to storms in the area. John White would later die in England, never finding out the fate of the colony. In the present time, no mass grave or bodies have ever been found of the colonists.

THEORIES

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This event has been heavily studied by historians and theorists alike, so a plethora of different theories exist to explain the disappearance of the colonists.

A possibility is that the colonists assimilated into a nearby Native American tribe. Manteo was a Native American tribal chief enlisted by White to supervise the Croatoan and Roanoke tribes. Manteo may have been unable to control both tribes, so he decided to retreat back with his people in Croatoan. He may have returned back to Croatoan and brought back the colonists with him to the island, This would explain the inscribed words the colonists left, but many skeptics argued that the colonists should have left more pieces of evidence behind. Another strange incident that backs this theory is that, in 1888, a group of Native Americans sent a letter to Congress asking for aid. They described themselves as remnants of White’s Roanoke Colony. Congress responded by stating that these Native Americans do share similar characteristics with the colonists of Roanoke. Furthermore, it is ordinary that, if they were assimilated, for the Native American tribes to keep only a handful of colonists while killing the rest. They would only keep colonists they see as essential, mainly women and children. Archaeological evidence would be later found that may support the assimilation theory. Many of these objects were found on the island where the Croatoans lived. The objects, including bowls and writing tablets, would have only been used by upper-class Europeans. However, because the previous expeditions to Croatoan failed from the storms, we are unable to conclude if the lost colonists assimilated with the Croatoans.

The colonists may have also been murdered by Native Americans. As stated previously, Ralph Lane fled the area because of the previous attacks with Native Americans. White’s colony would have faced similar problems. As a result, some believe that the colonists may have been killed and their bodies disposed of by the tribal groups in the region. However, as stated previously, no mass graves or bodies have ever been found of the colonists. There is also simply no evidence that an attack occurred in the region at the time.

The first two theories describe conflicts with Native Americans, but what if the colonists moved inland instead? White was not only a colonist, but he also made maps. A copy of White’s map of the region may provide significant evidence of the colonists moving inland. Below is a copy of White’s map of the region, which many cartographers say is incredibly accurate.

Notice the patch on the map. It was common back in these times to patch up mistakes since maps took an immense amount of time to create. Historians decided to investigate what was underneath the patch, and something astonishing showed up.

Using light analysis, historians noticed that a compass-like object was covered up. The compass is colored blue on the outside and red on the inside. But why would the compass be covered up by White? It is believed that the compass represents a fort or some extremely important location that White wanted to conceal. Even crazier is the fact that, upon further analysis, markings are also present ABOVE the patch. Historians believe that the markings above the patch represent a type of invisible ink that is revealed with the usage of milk or lemon juice. When archaeologists excavated the area where the compass is located, they again found objects used by upper-class Europeans in the region. These pieces of evidence point to people believing the colonists moved inland.

Supernatural theories are also here. The compass above has also been theorized to be a spacecraft or a landing zone. The people who believe in this theory explain that alien abduction would not leave any bodies behind, but that is really where evidence ends. Cannibalization evidence among the colonists have also been discovered. Many believe that the colonists turned to cannibalization because of the lack of food supplies, but a few point it to the outlandish theory that the colonists suffered a zombie plague. They explained that zombies would not leave a trace of bodies behind, but again, no real evidence supports this theory.

To this day, no one knows for certain what happened to the lost colonists of Roanoke. It has been so many years since this disappearance occurred, so it is unlikely that we will find out the fate of the lost colonists.

SOURCES

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Roanoke Colony (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony#Integration_with_local_tribes)

John White Map Chowan Fort Discovery - Analysis (https://nativeheritageproject.com/2012/05/07/john-white-map-chowan-fort-discovery-analysis/)

Map Markings Offer Clues to Lost Colony (https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/us/map-markings-offer-clues-to-lost-colony.html)

What happened to the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke? (https://www.history.com/news/what-happened-to-the-lost-colony-of-roanoke)