9781422286050

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Atlantic: North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia

leadership of John White. When White arrived, he found the few men who had not returned with Drake had died or disappeared. Things did not go well for the new colonists, either. They arrived too late to plant crops and mis- takenly attacked a group of Croatans who were friendly to them. White returned to England to get more supplies, but because England was at war with Spain, he was unable to return to Roanoke Island until 1590. When he got back, all the colonists had disappeared. The only clues left behind were the words “CROATAN” and “CRO” carved into trees. White was forced to return to England. Today we call this attempt at settlement the Lost Colony. No one knows whether the colonists starved, were killed, or went to live with friend- ly Native Americans. In 1629, King Charles I of England gave a large piece of land, including what is now North and South Carolina, to Sir Robert Heath. Heath failed to send colonists to the land. A few English settlers moved in from Virginia, but the land remained mostly

next year, Raleigh sent men to found a colony on Roanoke Island in the Outer Banks. The settlers managed to anger the Native Americans who had previously been helpful. As a result, the colonists almost starved. By chance, Sir Francis Drake, the first Englishman to sail around the world, arrived with a fleet of ships and took most of the colonists back to England. Despite these setbacks, in 1587 Raleigh sent another group of colonists to Roanoke Island under the Baptism of Virginia Dare, the first child born to English parents in America. John White brought news of Virginia’s birth when he returned to England in 1587, but by the time he returned in 1590 she had disappeared along with the rest of the Roanoke Island colonists.