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to history education online today. John White was terrified. He had promised
to return with supplies to the new colony where his baby granddaughter would be. He
said he would return in a number of months, but It had been three years. When his ship
landed on Roanoke Island, the colony had been long deserted. The buildings had been torn
down, but there was no sign of a battle. The place was almost entirely empty. Almost. All
that remained was a fencepost that held the only evidence as to their whereabouts. On
the post was carved the word “croatoan” and the letters CRO carved into a nearby tree.
I’m Matt from the channel Conjecture, and today on Step Back, we’re going to find
the lost colony of Roanoke. Roanoke holds a special place in the history
of America, England, and colonization. It was the first attempt by the English to settle
land in what would become the original 13 colonies that would become the United States.
It’s disappearance has been a mystery as long as there has been an America, and the
failure of the colony was one of the major setbacks to British colonization of North
America. In 1584, Queen Elizabeth gave Walter Raleigh,
the aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, politician, courtier, spy, explorer and collector of professions,
a charter to establish a colony in the new world. Their intent was to reap the riches
of the Americas, and act as base of operations for privateering against Spanish ships. A
few ventures had failed, so Walter eventualy hired John White, who had been on the previous
expeditions, to bring about 115 colonists to the Roanoke colony, in modern day North
Carolina. 15 Englishmen from a 1585 attempt at colonization stayed behind to hold the
land for Raleigh. Oh yeah, by the way, this Roanoke colony was the second attempt to try
and build something here. A previous expedition in 1585 failed due to lack of food and friction
with the the natives. No, not that kind of friction. Well, maybe. When checked up on
just a year later, the colony had been deserted. White and his crew found no signs of them
except for a spooky skeleton. This new colony was established in 1587 and
White’s granddaughter, Virginia Dare, was born there; the first English child born in
the Americas that we know of. This is also why the island is now located in Dare county.
John White left later that same year to go back to England. Some sources have said it’s
to get supplies while others claimed he was returning to ask for help, since one of the
colonists had been slightly killed by a native American.
After white left, the English found themselves in a major war with Spain, and they essentially
commandeered all of their ships to be used to fight the war. No one could use ships for
any other reason, including returning back to you new-world colony. After a few unsuccessful
attempts, John White returned to America in 1590, three years after he left. What greeted
him was an astonishing mystery: a n abandoned colony with no signs of life. All homes and
structures had been taken apart. White also told the colonists before he left to carve
a maltese cross [show image of one, I presume] into a tree to indicate they had been forced
out, but there wasn’t one. The only clue he could find was those carvings of "CROATOAN"
into a post of the fence around the village, and the letters C-R-O carved into a nearby
tree I mentioned earlier. White imagined they moved to Croatoan Island
(now called Hatteras) which is also where the croatoan tribe lived. However, he didn’t
get a chance to search there before heading back to England, and was never able to return
to search for any of the colonists. As far as we know, no one ever saw them again.
So what did happen to the people, of Roanoke, the entire colony? Historians have theories
based on archaeological, climatological, and many other types of evidence. The commonly
supported theories speculate that the colonists assimilated with nearby native tribes, likely
on croatoan island. They probably did this just to survive tree-ring evidence points
out that the years they were there were incredibly poor for farming, and White hadn’t come
back with supplies. They may have even assumed White died. There have been many artefacts
from rapier hilts, to writing slates found on Croatoan Island that likely point to the
presence of 16th century English colonists. There also was a more recent discovery, just
5 years ago in 201!exciting find in 2012, 422 years since the disappearance! This was
John White’s Map. But when you shone a black light underneath it, you can see there is
a hidden “X” northwest of the colony. This may have been a fort. Archeological evidence
strongly suggests English colonials were there, but there likely were not more than 12 individuals.
There are some other, more interesting theories that could explain the disappearance. It is
possible that they were indeed killed by native Americans, and that the evidence was just
spectacularly hidden. After all, they had 3 years to dismantle houses and structures,
and there were only 115 colonists. The natives might then have reclaimed the material while
taking back some of stolen goods. And maybe they attacked the colonists quickly and without
warning, preventing them from carving a maltesian cross. Maybe the CRO/ croatoan posts were
warnings! It’s also possible that when John White
came back the colony was there, but everyone had perished. He had a charter to colonize
land, but he needed a successful colony to keep it. If he came back and said everyone
had perished, along with other failed attempts he may have discouraged people from coming
to the new world. So perhaps he just covered it all up. This might explain why the X on
the map was intentionally hidden to find. The motivation was there, but the evidence
is sparse, as with many historical theories. We’re working with scraps here. There are
a few problems with this theory, namely that there were several ships and all their crews
there with John White, and noone seemed to leak anything. The bigger the conspiracy,
the more difficult to keep a secret. There are a few smaller theories I’d be
remiss in not mentioning. There’s the theory that the colonists fled from raiding natives,
and then died when out of the colony, either by attempting to cross the chesapeake and
drowning, or succumbing to hypothermia. The one thing that scholars all do agree on
is that there really is no great conclusive evidence. There are leading theories, but
nothing more. This centuries-old mystery still hangs over our head, without a good answer.
It’s ominous remains inspired many scary stories, and is even the subject of a season
of American Horror Story. There are projects actively searching to uncover more archaeological
evidence, but until then we just might have to explore and wonder, like John White.
Hey everyone, I want to thank Matt from Conjecture for co-writing and narrating this episode
of Step Back. If you click up in the corner, you can go to his channel and see what he
does. My personal recommendations if you like Step Back are why blue is associated with
boys and pink for girls, the whole concept of 72 virgins in Islam, and asking whether
men started the fashion trend of high heels. If you click up in the corner, or check the
pinned comment, I will even make you a playlist. If this is your first time here, and you want
to see more history videos, subscribe to this channel, double props if you ring my bell
here. Also, if there is a history buff in your life, be sure to share this video with
them. It works perfectly as a gift for birthdays, weddings, or the occasional funeral. And of
course come back soon for more Step Back.