On July 22, 1587, John White landed on Roanoke Island with 120 men, women, and children on an expedition funded by Sir Walter Raleigh, Following Raleigh’s first expedition to the new world led by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe who commanded two ships landing on the coast of North Carolina on July 13, 1584. This landing marked the first time the English flag was waved in the New World. Raleigh reported the discovery of Roanoke Island to Queen Elizabeth I, and the new territory was named Virginia, in honor of the Virgin Queen. In 1587, Raleigh sent John White as acting governor with the hopes of establishing the first permanent English settlement in the New World by developing a self-sufficient economy and agriculture. On August 18, 1587, the first English Christian was born: Virginia Dare. White and the colonists also tried establishing a peaceful relationship with the Indians. White believed survival in the New World necessitated peaceful coexistence. And for a while after contact, whites and Indians lived peaceably. An Algonquian Indian named Manteo, for instance, was introduced to the English during the first expedition at Roanoke and was later baptized and named Lord of Roanoke on August 27, 1587.
In November 1587, White sailed back to England to report to the Crown on behalf of the colony. White was unable to return to Roanoke Island for over two years. When he returned the only sign of the colonists were the letters “CRO” carved on a tree as a known sign of distress and the word “CROATOAN” carved on one of the palisade’s entrance posts. White searched for the colonists, but to no avail. The fate of the Roanoke Island colonists is unknown, and the Lost Colony remains a mystery.
