The Mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke
In the late 1500s, a hundred English settlers suddenly disappeared from North Carolina, leaving behind only two clues: the words "Croatoan" and "Cro" carved into a fort pillar and a tree, respectively.
It's a mystery that has fascinated Americans for centuries: what happened to the inhabitants of the lost colony of Roanoke Island, North Carolina?
The settlers, who arrived in 1587, disappeared in 1590 leaving behind only two clues: the words “Croatoan” and “Cro” carved into a fort pillar and a tree, respectively.
Hypotheses about the mysterious disappearance range from an epidemic to clashes with local Native American tribes. Previous excavations had yielded some data and artifacts from the settlers, but no information about what had become of them.
The settlers were the third group of English to arrive on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, and settled near the present town of Manteo.
The first group had arrived in 1584 to explore and map the land for future settlement. A second group, arriving in 1585, was tasked with a military and scientific mission. But the outcome of the mission was anything but peaceful.
“That's when tensions began with the local Native American tribes,” explains Argilla Swindell of the Albemarle Museum in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, one of the archaeologists studying the colony. “This second group was driven out in 1586 by local tribes, angry that the settlers were taking over the best resources and lands.”
In 1587 the third wave of English arrived. This time entire families disembarked: 17 women and 11 children accompanied by around 90 men, an unmistakable sign that they intended to settle in the New World.
It was a clue discovered in an ancient map called “La Virginea Pars,” drawn by John White, that set in motion new research into the fate of the lost colonists.
White, an artist in the employ of the explorer Sir Walter Raleigh, was appointed governor of the new lands; he was also the grandfather of the first English child born in the New World, Virginia Dare.
Two "patches" discovered on the map led Brent Lane of the First Colony Foundation (the group conducting the recent archaeological research, recipient of an NGS research grant) to wonder what they might be hiding.
Scientists at the British Museum examined them and discovered that they hid a small red and blue symbol. Could that symbol perhaps indicate a fort or a secret refuge?
“The most likely hypothesis is that the exploration in North America conducted by Raleigh was at least partly covered by state secrecy, and that the 'covered' map represented an attempt to hide the information collected from possible foreign agents,” says the historian Eric Klingelhofer of Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, responsible for the research project.
For most researchers, the most likely hypothesis is that the colonists contracted a disease caused by some New World microbe for which they were unprepared or that they were attacked.
In any case, whatever calamity befell them, the colonists probably broke up into smaller groups and dispersed, traveling about seventy miles south to Hatteras Island, later known as Croatoan Island.
To date, no convincing explanation of the meaning of the word “Croatoan” has yet been released.
