The First English Colonies:
The Virginia Company and the Colony at Roanoke (Handout)
Sir Walter Raleigh and his half-brother, Sir
Humphrey Gilbert, were wealthy aristocrats who
tried to establish colonies using much of their own
personal fortunes.
Raleigh envisioned the settlement as a source of
income where the colonist would raise bananas,
sugar and other crops that were impossible to grow
in England’s cold climate.
An expedition sponsored by the Virginia
Company, as Raleigh and his associates called
themselves, sailed from England in 1585 and landed
on Roanoke Island off the coast of what is today,
North Carolina, with a hundred men. The expedition
returned to England to gather more resources and
financing with the promise of returning to the New
World once again.
In 1587, another group set out for Roanoke
including 100 men and 17 women. Later that year, One of the colonists, by the name
of John White, returned to England for more supplies, leaving behind a prospering
colony. He did not return to the colony until 1590, nearly three years later.
In the place where he had left a
small, but thriving colony, was a
ghost town with deserted buildings,
rusty armour and over-grown grass
and weeds choking the lanes and
paths. Carved on the door post of
the crumbling fort was the word,
“CROATOAN”. No one knows what
ever happened to the colony or its
settlers and to this day, the mystery
of the “lost colony” persists.
Roanoke failed as a permanent
settlement, but the experience
proved valuable.
Answer the Following Questions:
1) Why did Sir Walter Raleigh help found an English colony in America?
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2) Did it succeed? Explain…
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3) Hypothesize what you think happened to the “lost colony.”
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