Roanoke Research Paper

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Have you ever wondered what if someone in your life disappeared? Have you wondered if you leave the room, will the people in that room still be there when you come back? If you leave someone alone, will they still be there when you get back? For the colonists of Roanoke this was a reality as they disappeared without a trace. No one knows where they went and it’s up to the scientists of today to speculate. The colony of Roanoke may have assimilated into or captured by the native indian tribe, they could have been killed off by sickness and savages, or they could have tried to go back to England but these are just theories.
Roanoke was a colony in America started by Sir Walter Raleigh of England. Raleigh wanted new land in the new world and decided to start a colony called Roanoke. “The Roanoke Island colony, the first English settlement in the New World…” (History 2) Roanoke was an important settlement in history as it was the first try at sustaining a colony in the new land. There were problems with starting this but it was just to test the waters and see if England could successfully get people overseas and surviving. “...was founded by English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh in August 1585.” (History 2) Sir Walter Raleigh put together a mission of settlers led by John White to see how a settlement fares overseas. Raleigh was granted access to start a colony somewhere in the world by the queen. However, the first settlement was abandoned due to insufficient supplies and a bad rapport with the native indian tribe. A second expedition was attempted, this time led by captain John White but had to return to England for supplies. Once John White returned, he found his colony deserted. A theory of what could have happened to the settlers is they could have assimilated into the local indian tribe or have been captured by them. Due to low supplies or the derth of a leader, the native tribe could have assimilated or captured to colonists, respectively. “In 1998, archaeologists
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With their leader gone and settlers without substantial medicine, they could have been wiped out by illness and adversaries. “A savage, with message of the arrival of a ship, came to us … We now believe the ship was not yours. Soon afterwards, the savages returned … Suddenly, they murdered all but seven of us.” (Quaramby 1) An imposter with the message of the arrival of a supply ship tricked the settlers and slaughtered most of them. Quite a clever little fella, huh? A letter was left at the site detailing what happened, it is unknown whether it is real or fake. The letter was inscribed on a piece of stone and left at the site for one of the people gone on the supply mission to find. The letter that told what happened was inscribed in stone but none of John white and his suppliers found it. It was only later discovered by excavators of the site. “Before two years were over, more had died from sickness” (Quaramby 1) A sickness such as smallpox spread around the colony and many died from it. Smallpox was common in this era and region, one quick cough and without proper medicine, boom, no more Roanokians. Savages with message of supplies could have killed the colonists while at the same time a virus was spread

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