Roanoke’s history begins in the year 1584. Walter Raleigh, a man within Queen Elizabeth’s royal court, commissioned two small ships to scout out the new land with the hopes of planting a colony there. April 27, 1584 marks the day those two ships sailed from Plymouth, England. One of those ships were commanded by Philip Amadas, Raleigh's cousin, and the other by Arthur Barlowe. Three days after they anchored in the new land in early July, the men were confronted by the Indians. On board one of the ships there had been a Spanish captive who account of the Indians was much different that Barlowe’s. The captive wrote that when they had anchored, the natives killed and ate 38 Englishmen. However, Barlowe writes that the Indians were friendly and
