The Last Colony Of Roanoke - 1639 Words

The Last Colony of Roanoke Five hundred years ago, European explorers landed in North America. After trying to locate a new route to Asia across the Atlantic Ocean, they found a continent they did not know existed. Three different groups traveled to the New World, starting in 1584 (Basu, Tanya). The last group included Gov. John White, he had to return to England to submit his report to the Queen. John White tried several times to return to Virginia, but it wasn’t until a few years later he was finally able to return to his new home. In 1584, when White was finally able to return, the land was barren and deserted of people. This baffling revelation began one of the greatest mysteries of all time. Three different groups traveled to the New†¦show more content†¦Raleigh sent out two small troops lead by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to scout out a new inhabitable area (Horn, James). They arrived on the outer banks a few months later in August, 1585 (Carpenter, Jeannine). They were the first English explorers to set eyes on North Carolina (The Lost Colony). Within days after Lanes return to Roanoke Island from Weapemeoc, he wrote historian and geographer Richard Hakluyt that they had: â€Å"discovered the mainland to be the goodliest soil under the cope of heaven, so abounding with sweet trees, that bring such sundry rich and most pleasant gummes, grapes of such greatness, yet wild, as France, Spain nor Italy hath no greater† (Carpenter, Jeannine). One of the islands they persuade looked like a perfect island to settle. In another letter he sent to Sir Francis Walsingham, secretary to Queen Elizabeth, Lane seems to have enclosed a crude map, its legends reveali ng a â€Å"great store of fish† and â€Å"great red grapes very pleasant† there (Carpenter, Jeannine). This island was Roanoke, ten miles long and two and a half miles wide. These were all reasons why the Roanoke colonists would have been able to establish a long term residence there. They returned to England a year later with two Natives, Manteo and Wanchese (The Lost Colony). With them they brought back plentiful information about the new lands they discovered. Among the information