Graham B.

Roanoke

Have you ever heard about the mysterious disappearance of the Roanoke tribes of North Carolina? Well if you haven't, then this will be a interesting story for you.

Roanoke was discovered in 1587 on Roanoke Island in Nags Head, North Carolina. It was founded by the explorer, Sir Walter Raleigh, who convinced the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth, that the people of Roanoke had gold and riches. She gave them two ships, and a whole entire crew. They had 80 days to get all the riches. Little did they know, there wasn't any riches, it was Sir Walter Raleigh’s scam just to get their own colony.

When Sir Walter Raleigh and his group arrived in Roanoke, they started building their fort as soon as they got there. They needed a fort to keep out  animals and dangerous natives. During the English and Spanish War, some English men went back to England to report to the Queen but when they got there they were sent back because of the war When they got to Roanoke to their surprise there was no one there except for the words “CROATOAN” carved into a tree.

To this day, there is no evidence to what happened to the people of Roanoke. People started to believe they moved to a nearby island named Croatoan to be with another tribe of the same name. There was a superstition in Roanoke that anyone who stepped outside the encampment  would die. Some people believed the disappearance was from the ghosts of the English men that died outside the encampment. No one has really figured out the true story since there is no written documents of what happened. Not too long ago, researchers went to Roanoke to make a dig site and see what was there. No one found anything to do with the disappearance. I think they moved to a different colony because everything was as they left it. Perhaps they left because they heard of a place with better food and resources.