John White's Roanoke Island Colony

John White was a man born in London, United Kingdom around 1540 to 1550. During his lifetime he was an explorer, cartographer and artist. Each of his skills led to him becoming the governor of a colony establish on Roanoke Island. John White traveled with the expedition that brought the first colony to the Americas in 1585. His duty during this expedition was to draw what was in the New World. His drawings would be used in the homeland so the people knew the inhabitants and what the environment was. He was also given the responsibility to chart the land. The colony was unsuccessful and the people returned to England the next year. During 1587 however, John White led a voyage back to make another colony. Here he would be the governor of the colony and the colonist in it. The colony consisted of a total of 118 people. Of those people seventeen were women, ninety were men, and eleven were children. His daughter, Eleanor Dare, was one of the colonist along with his future granddaughter Virginia Dare. Virginia Dare would be the …show more content…
He could not find any leads as to where the 118 people had gone. The only clues that were found were the words “CROATOAN” carved into a post and “CRO” carved into a tree. After giving up on searching for the colonist, he decided that they had left the colony in hopes to escape violent Native American tribes. John White soon returned to England with no clear idea on what exactly happened to the colonist. There is little that is known about John White. Many of the facts that can be found about him are simple connections between his name and different records. With not even his birthdate exact his death is just as unknown. It is believed that he died in County Cork, Republic of Ireland during 1593. His different works are still used today to try and find out where all the colonist went and how they disappeared without a