In 1590, governor John White returned to Roanoke Island to find every colonist gone, including his own daughter and granddaughter. The only clue was a single word carved into a post: 'CROATOAN.' This episode covers England's early attempts to establish a colony in the New World, the desperate conditions the settlers faced, and why their fate remains unsolved after more than 400 years. It's essential context for understanding what made later colonial ventures succeed where Roanoke failed.

Key Takeaways

• Virginia Dare, born at Roanoke in 1587, was the first English child born in the Americas.

• The word 'CROATOAN' was the only clear clue left behind, carved on a post, with 'CRO' on a nearby tree.

• John White couldn't return for three years because war with Spain had broken out, and when he did, a storm prevented him from reaching Croatoan Island.

• The first Roanoke colony in 1585 also failed, rescued by Sir Francis Drake after famine, harsh winters, and rising tensions with the local tribes.

• More than 400 years of archaeological investigation have produced theories but no definitive answer about what happened to the colonists.

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FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What does 'CROATOAN' mean and why did the colonists carve it?

Croatoan was the name of a nearby island and also the name of a native people who lived there. John White had instructed the colonists before he left that if they moved, they should carve the name of their destination. The carving suggests the colonists intended to relocate to Croatoan Island, but whether they reached it and what happened to them there remains unknown.

Q2: Who was Virginia Dare and why is she significant?

Virginia Dare was born on August 18, 1587, to Eleanor White Dare and Ananias Dare at Roanoke Island. She was the first English child born in the Americas. Her grandfather, Governor John White, returned to find her along with all the other colonists gone. She became a symbol of the Lost Colony mystery and of England's earliest ambitions in the New World.

Q3: Why did John White take three years to return to Roanoke?

White returned to England for supplies shortly after the colony was established in 1587. He intended to come back quickly, but England was at war with Spain, and Queen Elizabeth needed every available ship for national defense. He wasn't able to secure passage back to Roanoke until 1590, a delay that may have been fatal for the colonists.

Q4: Have archaeologists found any evidence of what happened to the colonists?

Investigators have found English artifacts at several sites away from Roanoke Island, including locations on the North Carolina mainland, suggesting some colonists may have moved inland. Some theories hold that survivors were absorbed into the Croatoan people, ancestors of the modern Lumbee Nation. No single piece of evidence has been accepted as definitive proof of any one outcome.

Q5: How does the Roanoke failure connect to later successful English colonies?

Roanoke showed England what a colony needed to survive: reliable supply lines, stable relations with native peoples, and backing from the Crown. When Jamestown was established in 1607, its organizers had learned from Roanoke's two failed attempts. The Virginia Company structure, while imperfect, addressed many of the supply and governance gaps that had doomed the earlier effort.

England's First Attempt at a Colony

In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored an exploratory expedition to the New World. Queen Elizabeth I had authorized him to establish the first permanent English colony there. Led by captains Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, the explorers reached land just south of the island of Roanoke. The broader region was named Virginia in honor of Elizabeth I, England's virgin queen. The captains and seven other men sailed to Roanoke Island. It was summer. Food was bountiful. The natives were friendly. Upon returning to England, the expedition gave a highly favorable report to Raleigh. On a second voyage in 1585, captained by Raleigh's cousin Sir Richard Grenville, a larger group of Englishmen arrived at Roanoke Island. There they built Fort Raleigh. Grenville returned to England for supplies. The colony would quickly fail. Short on food, they survived the winter by relying heavily on support from the natives. Into the summer, the situation worsened. Famine loomed. Tribal resentment toward the settlers rose. Rumors grew that the natives were planning to massacre the white settlers. The colonists killed and beheaded a native chief, Pemisapan, also known as Wingina. The colony had reached a crisis point. Then a lucky turn came their way. Fresh from strikes against the Spanish in the West Indies and Florida, Sir Francis Drake and his fleet appeared off the Carolina coast. The Spanish had nicknamed him El Draque, the Dragon. Drake picked up the colonists and returned them to England. Just a few days later, Grenville returned to find the colony abandoned. He left again for England, but left a small party of men behind. The continent these settlers reached had been home to native peoples for thousands of years, a story we cover in our episode on the first Americans.

John White and the Vanished Colony

In July of 1587, 117 men, women, and children led by artist John White arrived at Roanoke in another attempt to make a permanent English settlement in Virginia. The expedition found the houses the colonists had built. The fort was in ruins. In an omen of things to come, there was no trace of any of the men left behind by Grenville. Tensions with the local Native Americans quickly rose when members of the hostile Roanoke tribe killed White's adviser, George Howe. With the help of a friendly Croatoan native named Manteo, White and his men attempted to retaliate. Accidentally, they ended up killing other friendly Croatoans. That August, White's granddaughter, Virginia Dare, became the first English child to be born and baptized in America. Shortly after his granddaughter's baptism, White sailed back to England. The colony badly needed supplies. For three long years, conflicts with French and Spanish ships at sea prevented White from returning. Spain had already planted its own flag on the mainland decades earlier, as we cover in our episode on Spain's first foothold in Florida.

The Return, and the Mystery

In August of 1590, several ships approached the island of Roanoke in modern-day North Carolina. On board was John White, the governor of the colony. Three years earlier, he had left Roanoke for England to obtain much-needed supplies. The colonists he left behind included White's daughter Eleanor and granddaughter Virginia Dare. On his return to Roanoke, however, the governor saw neither of his family members. Worse yet, the entire colony had vanished. Among the sparse clues left behind, there were two engravings: one with a partial word, the other with its entirety. According to his account, the expedition found the letters C-R-O carved into a tree. They found the word Croatoan carved into either a fence post or a second tree near the fort's entrance. Before White had left for supplies, the settlers had devised a plan: if they were moving on, they would carve the name of where they were headed. If they were in distress, they would carve a cross above the name. Croatoan was the hometown of the friendly native Manteo. It lay just over 50 miles south of Roanoke on what is now modern-day Cape Hatteras. Above neither of the carvings was there a cross, which was some reassurance to White. Alas, a hurricane forced him to head to the West Indies and then back to England without answers about his family or the rest of the colonists.

Four Hundred Years Without an Answer

What happened to the colonists? Did hostile natives kill them? Did the English assimilate into native tribes? Did they try to sail home but die in the attempt? Did Spaniards attack them? We don't know. What was the Roanoke colony is lost to us. The lost colony remains the greatest mystery in the American story. Sir Walter Raleigh failed to establish a permanent settlement in Virginia. His efforts and fame, however, steeled English determination to break the Spanish hold on the new world. In 1792, North Carolina established Raleigh as its state capital. In 1941, the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site was established. As for Roanoke, the island would play some future role in America's story. During the Civil War, after General Ambrose Burnside and Union forces took control of the island, Black slaves found refuge there. It became known as the Freedman's Colony. In 1902, radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden used a radio tower on Roanoke Island in one of the earliest voice transmissions in history. Virginia Dare remains North Carolina's most popular female subject in histories and fictions. Still, the island's greatest legacy remains the unsolved mystery of the lost colony of Roanoke. The lessons of Roanoke shaped the next English attempt, the permanent settlement at Jamestown.