English Exploration in North Carolina

Sir Humphrey Gilbert• 1578, Queen Elizabeth I granted Sir

Humphrey Gilbert, the half brother of Walter Raleigh, a patent that allowed him to discover “remote heathen and barbarous” lands not held by any Christian people.

• 1583, Gilbert reached coast of Newfoundland and claimed it in the name of the Queen. However, the Canadian wilderness proved too harsh for a colony.

• On his return voyage, Gilbert and all his crew were lost at sea.

• Raleigh took over his half-brother’s patent and received his own in 1584.

Sir Walter Raleigh & the First Voyage--An Expedition

• Walter Raleigh was granted all the lands not claimed by Spain if he could set up a colony within 6 years.

• The lands were to be named “Virginia” in honor of Queen Elizabeth, aka the Virgin Queen

Sir Walter Raleigh & the First Voyage--An Expedition

• On April 27, 1584, Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, captains of the ship, set sail from Plymouth, England.

• On July 13, 1584 the expedition, which included artist John White, reached the Outer Banks.

AMADAS-BARLOWE VOYAGE• Three days later, Indians who were

described as “very handsome, and goodly people and in their behavior as mannerly and civill, as any of Europe” greeted the Englishmen.

• Chief Wingina was ruler of these Roanoac Indians.

AMADAS-BARLOWE VOYAGE

• The expedition spent 6 weeks exploring and documenting their visit in and around Roanoke Island.

• On the return voyage, two natives, Manteo and Wanchese, accompanied the Englishmen.

AMADAS-BARLOWE VOYAGE

• In January 1584 as a result of this successful expedition, Walter Raleigh was knighted.

Ralph Lane Colony—2nd Voyage• In 1585 Ralph Lane sailed with 107 men,

including John White, Thomas Harriot, Manteo, Wanchese, & Sir Richard Grenville.

• July 1585, the colonists built Fort Raleigh.

• Manteo chose to stay with the colonists; Wanchese returned to his people.

Ralph Lane Colony—2nd Voyage

• Before Grenville returned to England, he accused the Indian village of Aquascogoc of stealing a silver cup. When the Indians failed to return the cup, Grenville’s men burned the village & destroyed the crops.

• Ralph Lane organized the colony along military lines, even though many of the men were civilians.

• He divided the colony into 3 scouting parties:• one went north to explore the Chesapeake Bay area

to search for a deep water harbor;

• a second remained near Roanoke Island to explore the Outer Banks; and

• the third, led by Lane, explored westward to search for silver.

Ralph Lane Colony—2nd Voyage• The colonists did not prepare themselves for

winter.• Low on supplies and food, Lane demanded

assistance from the Roanoac Indians.• He began to suspect Chief Wingina was

conspiring with other tribes to destroy the colonists.

• June 1586, Lane & 27 of his men entered Wingina’s village of Dasamunquepeuk.

• At the Lane’s signal of “Christ our Victory,” the men attacked the village.

• Lane had offered silver coins to the man who would bring him the head of Chief Wingina.

• Edward Nugent followed a wounded Wingina as he tried to escape and returned shortly afterwards with the ruler’s decapitated head.

Ralph Lane Colony—2nd Voyage• A short while later, Sir Frances Drake,

England’s most notorious Sea Dog, arrived to check on the Lane colony.

• Because of a recent hurricane that killed crew members and the desperate shortages of food and supplies, the Lane colonists chose to return to England with Drake.

• In their haste to leave, the colonists left behind 3 men on an expedition. They became the first “lost colonists.”

• Sir Richard Grenville showed up 3 weeks later with supplies for the colony. Finding no one there, Grenville left 15 men at the fort to hold the region for England.

• These men were the second “lost colonists” of Roanoke.

• Their remains were found when the next English colonists arrived.

John White Colony--3rd Voyage

• The third voyage and second attempt to colonize was led by John White.

• He brought 85 men, 17 women, 11 boys, 14 family groups, and a new baby to build the “Cittie of Raleigh” on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay.

• The colonists joined the voyage for the promise of 500 acres of land and the hope of gold/silver.

John White Colony--3rd Voyage• Three English ships left Portsmouth, England on

April 26, 1587 and arrived at Roanoke Island on July 22 in order to drop off Manteo and another native who had returned to England with the Lane colonists.

• Governor White planned also to pick up Grenville’s men and then go onto the Chesapeake Bay area to settle.

• After a disagreement with Captain Simon Fernandez, White and his colonists were put ashore. Thus, they began to rebuild and clean the abandoned huts in Fort Raleigh.

• John White tried to mend relations with the Roanoac Indians.

• On July 28, 1587, colonist George Howe was attacked and killed while he was fishing alone.

• It is very likely that Wanchese & the Roanoacs were retaliating for the murder of Chief Wingina.

• Some of the colonists responded by mistakenly attacking Manteo’s tribe, the Croatoans.

• Fortunately, Manteo’s diplomacy saved the lives of the colonists.

•On August 18, 1587, Virginia Dare, White’s granddaughter, was “the first Christian borne in Virginia.” She was the daughter of Ananais and Eleanor Dare.

•By the end of August 1587, White decided to return with Fernandez to England for supplies. He left his newborn granddaughter and 100 colonists on August 27, 1587. Virginia was 9 days old.

• After a difficult voyage, White finally arrived in England in the midst of political upheaval. By the end of 1587, White & Sir Richard Grenville were ready to return to Roanoke Island. However, Queen Elizabeth I had placed a ban on all ships leaving England.

• In the spring of 1588, John White left England with two small ships. After one was captured by pirates, the other was forced to return to England.

John White Colony--3rd Voyage

John White Colony--3rd Voyage• In the summer of 1588, Elizabeth I needed all ships to fend

off the Spanish Armada.

• Finally in 1590, White left again with two ships for the Outer Banks. After another piracy attack and a stop in the West Indies, White finally landed at Roanoke Island on August 17, 1590—3 years after the birth of Virginia Dare.

The Lost Colony• White sounded a trumpet, a predetermined

signal. http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/lostcolony/site/audiotour/stop_07a.mp3

• The fort was still standing but the houses were torn down and the colonists were gone.

• Carved into posts were the words, CROATOAN & CRO.

• There was not a cross, the predetermined mark of distress, above the words.

The Lost Colony• White’s ships headed south to Hatteras Island,

where Manteo’s Croatoan tribe lived. However, fierce storms raged, preventing the ships from sailing to the island.

• The ships were forced to return to England. White committed the colonists to the “merciful help of the Almighty.”

• He was never able to resume his search.

Sir Walter Raleigh• By 1588, although Sir Walter Raleigh did

attempt another search mission, which also failed to locate the “lost colonists,” he had fallen out of favor with Queen Elizabeth I.

• In 1602, Raleigh was accused of conspiring against the new English monarch, King James I, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

• In 1617, Sir Raleigh was released from prison after he promised to find gold in South America without bothering the Spanish with whom England was finally at peace.

• However, while Raleigh lay sick with a fever on his ship in off the coast of South America, his son led an attack on a Spanish settlement and was killed during the attack.

• The Spanish governor was also killed.

Sir Walter Raleigh• Within a few weeks, Spanish pirates began

attacking English ships.• When Sir Walter returned to England,

King James I condemned him for the attacks.

• Sir Walter Raleigh was executed on October 29, 1618.

Theories about the Lost Colony1. The people of Roanoke simply left the settlement. 

• The colonists left Roanoke island to start a settlement in the Chesapeake Bay (their original destination).  They built rafts or a boat using materials torn apart from their houses. 

• Close to 20 years passed before John Smith and his group started the settlement of Jamestown, near Chesapeake Bay. 

• They found some evidence that the natives of Chesapeake Bay had

killed some colonists who attempted to settle on their land, hoping to prevent more English settlers from arriving.

• Could they have been the people of the Lost Colony?

2. The colonists left Roanoke Island to live with the Natives.

• Croatoan, which was carved on the post, was the name of an island in the area. 

• It was also the name of the kind natives that inhabited the island (Manteo’s people).  It is possible that the colonists decided to live with the natives of Croatoan. 

• In fact, some historians believe that the Lumbee Indians are descended from the intermarriages of the colonists and the Croatoans.

3. The colonists were killed by the Roanoac Indians.

• The Roanoacs had previously murdered some colonists.

• Without their leader, John White (who had had a good relationship with the natives), the colonists were more vulnerable.

• To this day, however, no one knows for sure what happened to the Lost Colony.