Georgia Stucki

Ben Dettmar

HIST 1700

March 18, 2019

The Future of Community for the Lost Colony

America has been based off the idea of “We the People” before it was written down in

the constitution. All colonies that were established in America wanted to find a sense of

community in all that the word applies. Shared values, interests, and goals that promote

fellowship within a group of different types of people. However, even with a country being

based off the idea of community, a few of the first colonies had a struggle to find the difference

between community and conquering natives. The beginnings of the Roanoke Colony was an

example of how community highly affects the idea of establishing a community.

“In April, 1584, two captains named Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe set off on an

expedition to and arrived on July 4 arrived on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.” (Manikas)

The two captains were introduced to the Roanoke tribe and the chief's brother, Granganimeo,

welcomed them with open arms giving them a sense of peacefulness. Trade between the English

explorers and the Roanoke tribe continued until after six weeks of exploring the English decided

to head back with two Roanoke members, Manteo and Wanchese. Amadas and Barlowe highly

valued their status with the Roanoke tribes and shared many meals with the natives, learning

about their skills and the land.

In 1585, a larger crew of six hundred men returned to set up Fort Raleigh and map out

the land to report back to England. 107 men were left at Fort Raleigh along with their leader

Ralph Lane who conducted exploratory expeditions to learn more about the land and the native

tribes. Lane established a relationship with Wingina and his people and learned how to fish with

fish weirs for the men. Lane on the other hand, didn’t find sharing their skills with the tribes
useful and wanted to exploit them to go to pearl fisheries and hunt for gold. While on the way to

search for pearls and gold, Lane kidnapped a chief and destroyed all trusts with the native

indians from around the area. Unity was no longer a choice and Lane along with the other

explorers left to go back to England leaving a small group behind. The small group would never

be rescued as they were killed by the tribes around Fort Raleigh. The destroyed trust proved to

put English settlers lives in danger.

John White and Manteo decided to settle the city of Raleigh with 110 men and arrived in

May 1587. The cause of death of the small group left behind was determined by friendly

indigenous and White and the group repaired the houses that were destroyed at Fort Raleigh.

Winter hit quickly and there was no time to plant crops for the settlers. “Having inadequate

supplies and receiving little help from the American Indians, White was encouraged to return

home for supplies.” (Manikas) White left and didn’t return until 1590, when the whole group of

110 men, women and children had vanished. Many assumptions have been made about the

disappearance of the colony but the most highly assumed conclusion would be the interference of

Native tribes.

Historians and Archaeologists are still trying to discover what happened to the

disappeared colonists. In 2017, “North Carolina Coastal Land Trust purchased 994 acres of the

Salmon Creek site back in August, aiming to preserve the land for its significance.”

(Newman) The purchase of the land is important for being able to discover more things about

the colony and the native tribes around the area to hopefully solve the case of what

happened. Both English pottery and Indian pottery have been found in the same places

around a site named “Site X”. The site is believed to be an estimated location for the

colonists to go but there is no prove of this finding. The Roanoke Colony is an example of
what a difference community can make for the importance of establishing a settlement. If

relationships between the colonists and tribes would have been salvaged and not risked for the

mining of gold or fishing for pearls, the first English Colony attempted would have persevered.

The new preservation of the land in the present day will help solidify the significance of what

can go wrong if community is not mutual between colonists and natives.

Works Cited

Manikas, Bill. “Lost Colony of Roanoke.” Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2018.

EBSCOhost,libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=tr
 ue&db=ers&AN=89453585&site=eds.live.

Newman, Tyler. “New North Carolina Artifacts Unearthed in Search for the Lost Colony of

Roanoke.” The News Site of UNC Wilmington, TheSeahawk.org, 11 Oct. 2017,

theseahawk.org/?s=New North Carolina artifacts unearthed in search for the lost colony

of roanoke.