Roanoke Island

933 Words2 Pages

More than for hundred years ago, Europeans wanted to set up colonies in the New World (Boyd 1). For the colonists the New World meant the present-day continents of North and South America (Boyd 1). England settled Roanoke Island present-day Virginia. Sir Raleigh soon became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I (Aron 1). Sir Walter Raleigh obtained a patent from Queen Elizabeth I to found a colony in the New World (Encyclopedia Americana International Edition 1). In 1585, Sir Raleigh sent a few men to investigate the New World (Pavao 1). John White accompanied the explorations of Chesapeake Bay (Wolfe 1).
The first English settlement was on its way to the New World. Raleigh’s cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, sent seven ships loaded with colonists to establish a colony (Strokes 1). The seven vessels were the Tyger, Lyon, Elizabeth, Roebuck, Dorthy, and two smaller ships (The First English Colony 1). The First English colony on Roanoke was founded in 1585, twenty-two years before Jamestown and thirty-seven years before the pilgrims landed on Massachusetts (Lane 1). The people landed on Roanoke, which is now present-day Virginia (Pavao 1). The first colonists that landed on Roanoke were all men (Boyd 1). The colonists were more interested in finding gold than establishing a permanent settlement (American Heritage New Illustrated History Of The United States 1).
The colonists would come to a misfortune of events. When the first people landed in Roanoke it was too late to plant crops (The First English Colony 1). Even if it was early enough to plant crops Roanoke Island was not productive enough to support the colonists and the Native Americans (Lost Colony 1). The colonists quickly came to depend on the Native Americans for food (Aron 1). ...

... middle of paper ...

...3 .
Pavao, Esther. "Roanoke: "The Lost Colony"" Roanoke: "The Lost Colony" 14 Nov. 2013 .
"The Roanoke Colonies." Encyclopedia Virginia: Roanoke Colonies, The. 03 Dec. 2013 .
"Roanoke Island." American Heritage New Illustrated History Of The United States. Vol. 1. New York, NY: Fawrett, 1971. 31-32.
"Roanoke Island." Encyclopedia Americana International Edition. Vol. 23. Danbury, CT: Scholastic Library, 2006. 567.
Strokes, Matt. "First English Colonies." Roanoke Island. 1 Nov. 2013 .
Wolfe, Brenden. "The Roanoke Colonies." Encyclopedia Virginia: Roanoke Colonies, The. 14 Nov. 2013 .

Show More
Related

  • Jamestown: Why Did So Many Die?

    649 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jamestown was the first successful settlement established by England. It was first built in 1607 and lasted until about 1614. On the first ship, 100 male settlers set off for a new settlement in the New World. Life there at times was hard for various reasons. They did, however, become 7 7 trading partners with the Indians. 80% of Jamestown’s more than 500 settlers that had arrived had been dead by 1611. The reason for this is because of sickness and disease, lack of resources, and where they chose to build their settlement.

    Read More

  • John White: The Lost Colony Of Roanoke

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1587, John White lead a crew of a hundred and seventeen to the island of Roanoke, hoping to form England’s first colony in America. The travel to Roanoke Island didn't trouble John White and they successfully set anchor on Roanoke in July 22, 1587. The Colony worked out exactly as planned until the colony ran out of supplies, forcing John White to sail back to England to collect more supplies then return home with the supplies. The

    Read More

  • Significan Mercantilism In The Columbian Exchange

    1540 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jamestown: Jamestown was an English settlement in America, located in Virginia and named after King James I. The first group of men to arrive were dispatched to Jamestown by the Virginia Company of London. The men of Jamestown experienced several problems, such as lack of gold, inadequate food and water, disease, and an inability to dominate the native population. This term is significant because Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in America, laying the foundation for the eventual colonization of the rest of

    Read More

  • Chesapeake Bay Labors in Colonial America

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    Looking at the early English colonies in the Chesapeake Bay region, it’s clear that the English had not learned any lessons from their experiences at Roanoke. Poor planning, a bad location, unrealistic expectations, flawed leadership, unsuccessful relations with the local Indians, and no hope of finding the mineral wealth the Spanish found in Mexico, all contributed to failure. The first colonists in the Chesapeake region were not only ignorant, lazy and unambitious, but their attempts were hampered before they had begun. However, a solution to these problems was found in a single plant: tobacco. Nevertheless, this cash crop ultimately created numerous problems for the colonists. The ignorance and indolent acts of the Chesapeake colonists to unsuccessfully restore the colony by themselves led to the demise of the colony as a whole especially regarding the planting of agricultural goods for food.

    Read More

  • Roanoke Essay

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    This all began when Sir Walter Raleigh, a wealthy courtier, sought-after permission from Queen Elizabeth I to establish a colony in North America. On March 25th 1584 he got a charter to start the colony. Raleigh funded and authorized the expedition .He sent two explorers by the names of Phillip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to claim land for the queen,they departed on the west side of England on April 27th . On May 10 they arrived at the Canaries, a series of islands near the northwest coast of mainland Africa. They arrived at the West Indies on June 10 and stayed there for twelve days then left. On July 4 the explorers saw North American land, they sailed for nine days more looking for an entryway to the sea or river and found one on June 13th. They then set off to explore the land and place it on the map . After they went back two additional journeys there followed after. One group arrived in 1585 and went there for...

    Read More

  • The Chesapeake Colonies and New England Colonies

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1419, Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal began the period of time known as the “Age of Exploration”. Europe’s leading superpowers, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, and England, all competed for colonization in unknown territories. Samuel de Champlain colonized along the St. Lawrence River in 1608, Henry Hudson of Holland established Albany in 1609, and Spain established colonies in Mexico and Mesoamerica. In 1607, England established its first colony in North America around the Chesapeake Bay, and nearly a decade later established a second colony in present-day New England. Both New England and the Chesapeake were founded by the British around the same time; however, both colonies developed a different economy, government, and many other ways of life.

    Read More

  • Wake Island

    1752 Words  | 4 Pages

    When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, America was at last forced to officially enter World War II. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt officially declared war on the Japanese and in his famous radio address to the American people, he professed that December 7 was a day that would live in infamy. Americans and Japanese alike, still remember Pearl Harbor Day, but how many remember the gallant, fighting Marines who served on a tiny atoll in the Pacific by the name of Wake Island?

    Read More

  • The Abandoned Colony by Karen Ordahl Kupperman

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    Summary: This book starts well before Roanoke was founded. It detailed how, at the time, England was not a superpower. Spain and France were the most dominant of the European countries, but internal conflicts in France made it weak, while Spain was getting extremely wealthy off of Indians and the Aztecs. England saw this as an opportunity to expand into the New World, and had Walter Raleigh head the trip. The main goals of the colony were to expanding their efforts of privateering, with a sustainable colony as an after thought. It was initial devised as a way to intercept merchant ships more effectively from other countries (mainly Spain) and be a short-term base of operations. Most if not all of the men brought over had only military experience, so they struggled with building proper housing, getting clean water, and growing crops. Ultimately, conflict erupted when the Indians grew weary of giving such a large amount of supplies to the colonists, and many high ranking officials died on the Indian side. The settlement was abandoned due to lack of supplies. After this unsuccessful attempt, John White lead another group intended to be a permanent settlement to Roanoke, and the prototype of plantations he u...

    Read More

  • Comparing Jamestown

    1105 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 17th century, England was late when it came to the colonization of the new world. Which went through many changes before it was able to test the waters, forming the first settlements in the mid-Atlantic, Virginia. Under the guise of a noble mission given to them by King James I, the Virginia Company funded the first Colonies in Virginia. Years later, after perfecting their skills at surviving this new land, colonies in the south, Carolina were formed. These two regions both had their share of challenges, but they overcame them in different ways. Each had a method of doing things by force or from trial and error. The world in 1606 was very different than the world of today, but this is a story based on the

    Read More

  • What Challenges did Explorers and Colonists Face in what Became North America from the 1580's to the 1630's

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first settlement was built by the English and consisted of 117 men, women, and children on Roanoke Island; which is off the coast of North Carolina. Within three years all of the colonists had disappeared leaving no trace of what happened to them. Analysis of tree rings has shown that Roanoke Island had the worst three-year drought in the past 800 years during the time they settled and disappeared. This is just one of the many challenges that colonists faced.

    Read More

  • How Revolutionary Was The American Revolution?

    3088 Words  | 7 Pages

    After the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus, European Nations competed in a race against one another to claim pieces of the new land. Before Columbus found this land, the sea separating the New World from Europe seemed endless, and mundane. The Europeans were only interested in the land to the East. But with the New World as a new hat thrown into the ring, the Europeans tossed aside their old toy to go play with a new one. This time period of conquest over the New World was known as the Age of Exploration, and by the 1700s, they kept their pickings. A New World meant more land to build homes and plant crops, and more money to be earned by buying out new houses and selling new crops grown in foreign soil. Spain claimed Mexico, and the Southwest portions of what would be known as America. France got their hands on most of present-day Canada, as well as Louisiana. The Dutch set foot on land they called New Amsterdam, however, The English, who had settled their first colony in Jamestown, Virginia, drove the Dutch out and claimed New Amsterdam for themselves, later renaming it New York. The English claimed more land as time passed, and eventually they had formed 13 different colonies in the Eastern part of America. The English Colonies were separated into 3 different regions. The New England Colonies (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire), the Middle Colonies (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware), and the Southern Colonies (Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia). The New England Colonies were the earliest of the 3 regions, founded by English Settlers seeking religious freedom. The Middle Colonies were also founded by settlers seeking religious freedom. The Southern Colonies,...

    Read More

  • the development of slavery in America

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    It was a difficult life for the first colonists; they had limited labor and were constantly raided by Native Americans. Colonists tried to use the Native Americans as a source of slavery. Most of the colonist’s farms were in forest areas so Native Americans would just leave in to the woods. Colonists were afraid of pressuring them from the fear of getting ambushed by gangs of Native Americans. Another reason Native American men made bad slaves was because the women in the tribes did the agricultural work in the Native American villages.

    Read More

  • Roanoke and Jamestown

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    The first effort by the English to establish a colony in the New World was when Sir Walter Raleigh issued a charter to establish a colony at Roanoke. It was the responsibility of Raleigh to make the necessary provisions to complete the journeys to the New World and accomplish the goals of the charter. This entailed hiring ship captains and their crews, recruiting possible colonists, purchasing food and other supplies, and finding those who would invest capital in the missions. Raleigh however did not actively participate in the journeys to Roanoke Island; he was just the organizer and major financier.

    Read More

  • The Chesapeake and New England Colonies: A Comparison

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Chesapeake region of the colonies included Virginia, Maryland, the New Jerseys (both East and West) and Pennsylvania. In 1607, Jamestown, the first English colony in the New World (that is, the first to thrive and prosper), was founded by a group of 104 settlers to a peninsula along the James River. These settlers hoped to find gold, silver, a northwest passage to Asia, a cure for syphilis, or any other valuables they might take back to Europe and make a profit. Lead by Captain John Smith, who "outmaneuvered other members of the colony's ruling and took ruthlessly took charge" (Liberty Equality Power, p. 57), a few lucky members of the original voyage survived. These survivors turned to the local Powhatan Indians, who taught them the process of corn- and tobacco-growing. These staple-crops flourished throughout all five of these colonies.

    Read More

  • Jamestown and Plymouth

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    The English had two main colonies in the new world, Jamestown and Plymouth. The first colony was Jamestown, established in Virginia in 1607. Jamestown was settled by Captain John Smith, and was named after King James I. Tobacco was the main export of Jamestown, and became the basis of the Jamestown economy, sending more than 50,000 lbs of the plan back to Europe by 1618 (textbook 46). Jamestown had a very rocky start, many colonists dying in the first few years of the settlement, and the settlers had many problems with natives. Shortly after the arrival of English colonists the Natives attacked them, and were finally forced back by a canon from the English. A very uneasy truce was finally settled between the natives, called the Powhatans, and the English (textbook 44-5). Economic growth and expanding their territories were the main priorities of the English in the Jamestown colonies.

    Read More

More about Roanoke Island

Open Document