NC-LOSTCOLONY-L Archives

From: "Barry Wetherington" <>
Subject: The Mystery of Roanoke
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 23:57:02 -0400

This is another nice LC site w/photos & Links for context. I haven't fully
revd for info, and there is more there.

Barry

http://www.watertown.k12.ma.us/americanhistorycentral/04encountersintheamericas/The_Mystery_of.html


Early American History
Encounters in the Americas
Vocabulary

Croatoan Indians
Francis Drake
John White
North Carolina
Queen Elizabeth I

Key Concepts
The Mystery of Roanoke
Roanoke Island
Sir Walter Raleigh
Virginia Colony, 1585
next page...
table of content...
top of page...


Encounters in the Americas

Elizabeth I - Elizabeth became Queen of England when her sister, Bloody
Mary died. England had been a Catholic country. Their father, King Henry
VIII, made the Church of England the official church. Mary had remained a
Catholic. When she became Queen, she began persecuting the Protestants.
Hence the name Bloody Mary. When Mary died, Elizabeth became Queen.
Elizabeth was a Protestant. Elizabeth was very smart. She spoke five
languages. The 1500s and the reign of Elizabeth is called the Elizabethan
age. William Shakespeare was writing plays in England. Good manners were
developed. The horse drawn carriage was brought to England from the
Netherlands. Forks began to be used by Englishmen. Queen Elizabeth had the
first flush toilet installed in her palace.

Sir Walter Raleigh - Sir Walter Raleigh sent three expeditions to the New
World. The first expedition scouted for a good place to begin a colony. The
ship explored the coast of North Carolina. Raleigh named the area
"Virginia", after Queen Elizabeth. She was unmarried, and was called the
"Virgin Queen."

first attempt - The first expedition included seven ships and 100 men to
begin. The settlers included John White, an artist, a mathematician, an
astronomer, a navigator, and a Joachim Ganz, a Jewish mineral expert.

second group - Sir Walter Raleigh realized the Roanoke Colony would not be
successful without women and children. In July, 1587, he sent families to
begin the colony. The colonists landed at Roanoke in late spring. It was too
late to plant crops. John White realized the colony would need more food, so
he returned to England for supplies.

returned - The letters "C R O" were carved on a tree. "Croatan" was the name
of a nearby island and the name of a nearby tribe. The Roanoke Island colony
began to be called the "lost colony." The Roanoke colonists were never heard
from again.
John White - John White brought along his married daughter, Eleanor Dare and
her husband. Eleanor Dare gave birth to a baby named Virginia. Virginia Dare
was the first English baby born in the new world.
gone - In 1998, climatologists studied ancient tree rings in the Roanoke
Island area. They found that the Roanoke settlers had arrived during the
worst drought in 800 years.
Francis Drake - Francis Drake was an English sea captain and pirate. Queen
Elizabeth gave him a privateering commission. This gave him the Queen's
permission to be a pirate against the Spanish Ships.
stole treasure - On the Isthmus of Panama, Francis Drake captured three
mule trains loaded with 30 tons of silver. In 1577, Francis Drake sailed
through the Strait of Magellan and into the Pacific Ocean. His ship was the
Golden Hind. It was the first English vessel to reach the west coast of
America. Drake captured a huge amount of treasure from the Spaniards off the
coast of Peru. He tried to find the Northwest Passage by sailing north along
the coast of California. Then he sailed west to China. Drake picked up
spices in China and then sailed to England. This made Drake the first sea
captain to finish his voyage of sailing around the world. Queen Elizabeth
made Drake a knight and he became known as Sir Francis Drake. Ferdinand
Magellan's "crew" was the first crew and ship to sail around the world for
Spain.

Images

Francis_drake2.jpg
Sir_walter_raleigh2.jpg
Elizabeth1_2.jpg
jamestown_map2.jpg
spanish_treasure_ship.jpg
Bloody_Mary2.jpg
tudor_Henry2_VIII.jpg
strait_magellan_label.jpg
Time Line

Glossary

English explorers had been sailing across the Atlantic Ocean since the

middle of the 1500s. Sometimes they explored the east coast of North
America. Sometimes the English explorers also acted as royal pirates and
attacked Spanish treasure ships carrying gold from Middle and South
America. Francis Drake was England's most famous explorer. He also stole
treasure from the Spanish ships.

The Queen of England was Elizabeth I. She encouraged English explorers to
explore the New World. She gave Sir Walter Raleigh permission to begin
England's first colony in North America. In July 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh
sent a group of English colonists to an island off the coast of what is
today North Carolina. The Indians called the island Roanoke Island. They
named the colony Virginia.

Francis Drake visited the Virginia Colony in 1586. He found the colonists
starving. He rescued them and took them back to England. Raleigh's first
attempt at establishing a colony on Roanoke Island had failed. The
Englishmen did not know how to survive in America.

A year later, Sir Walter Raleigh sent a second group of English colonists
to Roanoke Island. John White was the leader of the colony. After three
months, he went back to England for more supplies. While in England, John
White became stranded. England was fighting a war with Spain. After three
years, John White was able to return to the colony. He discovered all the
colonists were gone. The word "Croatoan" was carved on a wooden post. Many
people believe that the colonists went to live with the Croatoan Indians.
The mystery has never been solved.
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• The Mystery of Roanoke by "Barry Wetherington" <>