4 July: The lost colony of Roanoke

On this date in 1585, the first English Colonists landed at Roanoke, Virginia. 10 facts about the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke.

1. Roanoke is an island, about 8 miles long and 2 miles wide, off the coast of present day North Carolina, although in the 16th century it was considered part of Virginia.
2. The colony was sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh, although he never set foot in it himself. The land of Virginia was granted to Sir Walter Raleigh by Queen Elizabeth I in 1584. Raleigh sent two others, Captain Philip Amada and Captain Arthur Barlowe, to explore the area and decide where might be a good place to found a colony. Roanoke Island looked like a good place, so the following year, Sir Richard Grenville led an expedition there, leaving behind 107 men. Their attempts to settle there failed - they built a fort, but life there was difficult, especially since the local Native Americans frequently fought with them. They eventually gave up when one of Raleigh's ships passed by and offered to take them home to England, not long before Grenville returned with supplies, only to find they had all gone. A handful of men stayed behind when Grenville again left for England. This, however, wasn't the mysterious lost colony.
3. The lost colony was the second attempt at settling on the island, which began in 1587. 115 people led by John White went there, expecting to find Grenville's men, but all they found was a human skeleton. Undeterred, they settled there anyway but found the living hard - they needed more supplies, and a few of their number were killed in disputes with Native Americans. Hence, John White decided to go back to England for supplies and reinforcements.
4. Unfortunately, at the time, England was at war with Spain, so there were no resources or men to spare for a struggling colony in America. It was 1590 before White could return, only to find the colony had been abandoned. There was no sign of a battle. The colonists had been instructed to carve a Maltese cross on fenceposts or trees if they were being forced to leave, but no cross was found, only the words "Croatoan" carved into a fence post and "Cro" carved into a tree. White concluded the colony must have moved to a nearby island they called Croatoan, but a bad storm prevented him from checking out that theory, forcing him to go back to England instead.
5. The first baby to be born to British parents in the Americas was born at Roanoke. Her name was Virginia Dare, and she was John White's granddaughter.
6. Twelve years later, Raleigh set out to try and find out what had happened to the colony. However, he wanted a guaranteed profit for the trip as well, so the expedition landed first in the Outer Banks to gather aromatic woods and sassafras to sell back home. Before they got around to visiting Roanoke, the weather turned bad and like John White, they were forced to go back to England. Raleigh's subsequent arrest for treason meant he was unable to organise any more missions after that.
7. So what happened to all those people? We may never know, but there are theories. The colony was attacked by the Spanish who were competing with England for the land, and they took the colonists captive. The colonists decided to move, either to Croatoan island (today known as Hatteras Island) or to the mainland where they either starved to death, were killed by Native Americans, or were integrated into a Native American tribe.
8. From 1937 to 1941, a series of inscribed stones was discovered telling the stories of what happened to the colonists. It was suggested they had been written by Eleanor Dare, Virginia Dare's mother. Historians generally believe they were a hoax, but one stone is different from the rest in terms of language and chemical make up, leading to speculation that one, at least, may have been genuine.
9. Nobody knows now where on the island the colony actually was. It's possible that due to erosion, it's now underwater. However, archaeologists continue to explore the area and still make some fascinating finds, like in 1993 when Hurricane Emily uncovered a number of items on Hatteras Island which could be evidence the colonists ended up there - a 16th-century English signet ring, gun flints, and two copper farthings.
10. Since 2007, a team led by Roberta Estes, who owns a DNA testing company, has been trying to solve the mystery by looking at migration patterns, historical records and DNA testing. So far, however, they haven't found anyone who has proved to be a descendant of the colony.