If You've Never Heard Of The Lost Colony Of Roanoke, Here's What You Need To Know
by N/A, 9 years ago |
3 min read
|
17
When you think of the first English settlement in America, you probably think of Jamestown, right?Â
Wrong. Before Jamestown there was a colony called Roanoke. But the result of this colonial attempt is equal parts strange and terrifying. Three years after the colony was founded, all of its citizens had disappeared.Â
Roanoke was founded in 1585 in the name of Queen Elizabeth I. Roanoke Island is what is now Dare County in North Carolina.
At one point the governor of the colony, John White, went back to England due to dwindling supplies in the colony itself. Due to his timing, though, White had to stay in England for three whole years—it was right when the Spanish Armada attacked.
He returned to a colony that had been completely destroyed...and all of the colonists had disappeared.
On a post, the word "Croatoan" had been carved into the wood.Â
On a post, the word "Croatoan" had been carved into the wood.
There was a Croatoan tribe, however they were known to have peaceful relationships with the colonists. When confronted they denied that they were in any way involved with the disappearance.
The colony did experience a pretty extreme drought at this time, so it's possible that a lack of resources and available nutrition lead to the demise of the colonists.
A massive hurricane isn't completely out of the question, but considering the fence around the town hadn't been destroyed, this seems unlikely.
There was certainly no shortage of disease at this time and many English colonists died for this reason, but in this case, there were no bodies found and no houses...and that explanation doesn't quite account for all of that.
One of the more delightful theories is that the colonists sort of made a deal to live with a native tribe when they ran out of resources, but fell in love with the lifestyle and simply became incorporated into their culture and never looked back.
Sad for John White, but happy for the idea of peaceful coexistence!
✕
Do not show me this again