The Lost Colony Of Roanoke Colony Summary

The Lost Colony of Roanoke

On May 8th, 1585, Richard Grenville, a famous naval commander, set sail for the island of Roanoke, a small island off the coast of modern-day North Carolina. With the hopes of establishing a colony, John White, an explorer and artist, was appointed the role of Governor. The colonists arrived sometime in July of 1587. There were a few small attacks from local Native Americans within the first few months, and the colonists desperately wanted John White to return to England, and retrieve more supplies. So, on August 25th, 1587, just a month after arriving, White set sail to England to gather more supplies, leaving behind 115 colonists. 87 men, 17 women, and 11 children, including his own daughter, Eleanor White Dare,
If you’ll recall, John White, the governor of Roanoke, was also an artist. He was also part of the original Roanoke expedition that failed. Between 1585 and 1583 he created a detailed watercolor map titled “La Virginea Pars” that shows the North Carolina coast and includes both Roanoke and Croatoan Island. The cartography of the map is thought to be extremely accurate and is described by museum experts as, the most careful, detailed piece of cartography for any part of North America to be made in the 16th century. When compared to modern satellite imagery of the same area, the only differences in the map are the naturally changing shapes of the coastline. At a glance, this seemed like nothing more than a regular map. But, upon closer inspection, this map was revealed to perhaps hide secrets. In 2012, a nonprofit organization called the First Colony Foundation requested that the British Museum reexamined two small patches on the map. Using patches to cover mistakes or damage was a common technique in 16th century map making, because maps took so much time and effort to make that starting over wasn’t an option. Using x-ray spectroscopy, infrared light, and other imagery techniques, the British Museum was able to discover that the patch was covering up a four-pointed star outlined in blue and filled in with red. “While the detailed interpretation of this symbol is beyond the scope of this study and is best left to experts in the field, it seems certain to represent a fort or fortification.” said the British Museums report. In other words, the star symbol may show the location of a fort inland from Roanoke Island, where the colonists may have resettled. When examined further, it was discovered that there are actually light marking over the possible fort on top of the patch as well. The British Museums report says that it’s probable that the markings just faded over time. But, it also