1584: Queen Elizabeth I grants Sir Walter Raleigh a patent to colonize America. English navigators Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlow, exploring on behalf of Raleigh, return to England with such glowing descriptions of Roanoak Island (in what is now North Carolina) that Raleigh decides to send out a colonizing expedition under Sir Richard Grenville and Sir Ralph Lane.

1585: After sailing across the Atlantic in the Dorothy (a small barque, or possibly a pinnace), the Elizabeth, the Lyon, the Roebuck, the Tyger, and two other ships, one hundred householders found the first British colony at Roanoake. They name it the "Citie of Ralegh." Antagonizing the local Indians, on whom they depend for food, the colonialists fail to thrive. The colony is run by Ralph Lane, who wrote a letter to Raleigh about his time there.

Click on this map for an enlarged image.

1587: Raleigh sends out another group, under John White. Ninety men, seventeen women, and nine children try again to form a colony in Roanoake. For a poorly formatted list of their names, click here.
White sails back to England for supplies. Although he plans on spending only a few months in England, war with the Spaniards forces him to delay his return.

1590: White returns to Roanoake, sailing with a fleet consisting of the Little John, the Hopewell, and John the Evangelist. A fourth ship, the Moonlight, sails separately.

The colonists are gone, leaving their empty houses behind them.The only hint of what might have happened to them are the letters CROATOAN are carved in a tree trunk.Had the settlers moved to Croatoan Island? Had they joined the Croatoan Indians? No one knows.

Err, the empty colony might have looked like this...