Dive into Roanoke colony baffling mystery: events, people, theories

What was Roanoke colony mystery?

The Roanoke colony was one of the first British settlements in the North America. When the ships returned in 1590, the colony was deserted, with the word "Croatoan" carved in the post of the fence as the only sign of the colonists.

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Roanoke colony facts

The Roanoke Island

In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh was given the permission from Queen Elizabeth I to establish a permanent English settlement in North America. Raleigh himself was more interested in searching for legendary El Dorado in South America, but his charter from queen was obliging him to start a colony in North A...

Third expedition

Expedition consisting of 150 settlers arrived to Roanoke colony on 22 July 1587 on their way to start a new settlement in Chesapeake Bay. All that they have found was a skeleton that could have been remains of one of the British from garrison, but there was no sign of any other people left by Granvi...

The lost colony

Three years after the colony was re-established the third expedition arrived on 18 August 1590 and found the Croanoke colony completely deserted. There was no sign of fight or struggle, there was no sign of violence, and... there actually was no colony - all the buildings and most of the fortificati...

Roanoke colony theories

Indian attack

The theory that local Indian tribes have forced the colonists to leave Roanoke and run away to find a safe place to live. Facts that are supporting the theory: - there were tensions between Indians and colonists, - colonists had limited sources of food and limited weapons to defend ...

Voluntary abandonment

The simplest explanation is of course the voluntary abandonment of the colony. Facts that are supporting the theory: - there were no signs of struggle or violence, - the colonists have dismantled the houses, which means that it wasn’t hasty decision, - the word "Croatoan" could ...

Food storage exhaustion

The theory similar to voluntary abandonment, but it assumes that the abandonment was forced due to insufficient food and not planned by the colonists. Facts that are supporting the theory: - there were no signs of struggle or violence, - no sign of any other colony location could ind...

Colonists killed on the route

This theory assumes that colonists did planned to move from Roanoke to other location (most probably Croatoan Island), but were killed or died on the route. Facts that are supporting the theory: - word "Croatoan" and dismantle of the houses would suggest that colonists did planned to re...