The Lost Colony at Roanoke Island

This page tells the story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke and the different theories on their disappearance.

Lost Colony at Roanoke

The Lost Colony at Roanoke was an English settlement established on Roanoke Island in 1587. Funded by Sir Walter Raleigh and led by John White, the colony mysteriously disappeared before White returned from England, leaving behind one of the most famous mysteries in early American history.

Sir Walter Raleigh's Colony Had Two Main Purposes

The Lost Colony at Roanoke consisted of 117 men, women, and children who arrived on Roanoke Island in 1587. The expedition was financed by Sir Walter Raleigh and led by his friend John White. Raleigh had received a charter from Queen Elizabeth I to establish an English colony in North America. One purpose of the expedition was to search for wealth and resources in the New World. Another was to create an English base that could support privateers attacking Spanish ships and challenge Spain's power in the Atlantic. Some of the colonists may originally have expected to settle farther north near the Chesapeake Bay.

John White Returns to England

Soon after the colonists arrived, John White's daughter, Eleanor Dare, gave birth to Virginia Dare, often remembered as the first English child born in an English colony in the Americas. The settlers quickly realized that they needed additional supplies, and White returned to England to obtain them. His return to Roanoke was delayed by the outbreak of the Anglo-Spanish War. English ships were urgently needed for the conflict with Spain, making it extremely difficult for White to find transportation back to the colony.

An Enduring Mystery - What Happened?

White finally returned to Roanoke on August 18, 1590, the third birthday of his granddaughter Virginia Dare. He found the settlement completely deserted. There were no colonists and no obvious signs of a battle or violent struggle. The word "CROATOAN" had been carved into a post, and the settlement's structures appeared to have been dismantled rather than destroyed. This suggested that the colonists may have left the island deliberately. Historians have proposed several explanations for their disappearance, including the possibility that the settlers joined or were absorbed into nearby Native communities. The region was also suffering through a severe drought, which would have made finding food and fresh water difficult. Other theories have suggested that the settlers were killed by Native groups or Spanish forces, but no single explanation has been proven.

Will We Ever Know?

The fate of the Roanoke colonists remains one of the great mysteries of early American history. Historians and archaeologists continue to study evidence from the region, but the exact fate of the settlers may never be known. The failure of the Roanoke settlement did not end English efforts to colonize North America. In 1607, the English established Jamestown in Virginia, which became the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Why it mattered: Roanoke was one of England's earliest attempts to establish a permanent colony in North America, and its disappearance influenced later English colonization efforts.

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