Roanoke - Timeline (Expand All)
Preparation (1584)
March 25, 1584: Queen Elizabeth issues a charter to Sir Walter
Raleigh so that he may settle in America. (Henry Steele Commager, Documents of American History.
8th ed. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1968.)
April 27, 1584: Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, explorers sent
by Sir Walter Raleigh, depart for the New World. They arrive on Roanoke
Island on July 13, 1584. On the fourth day they are visited by Granganimo,
brother to chief Wingina. When Amadas and Barlowe return to England, they bring two natives with them,
Manteo (a Croatoan Indian) and Wanchese. Barlowe writes an account
of the New World, which Amadas signs. The account is compiled and circulated
in December of 1584. (Quinn, New American World) (Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
September 1584: Richard Hakluyt the Younger writes A Discourse
of Western Planting, presenting it to Queen Elizabeth in October of the
same year. The intent of the document is to gain royal support and provide
Raleigh with advice. (Quinn and Quinn, Discourse) (see
essay by Elizabeth Wambold) [Display Quote]
1585: Richard Hakluyt the Elder writes his “Inducements” – “Inducements
to the lykinge of the voyadge intended to that parte of America which lyethe
betwene 34. and 36. degree” and “Inducements to the Liking of the Voyage
intended towards Virginia in 40. and 42. degrees.” (Quinn, New American
World) [Display Quote]
1585: Sir Walter Raleigh writes out notes planning the first colony
voyage – “For Master Rauleys Voyage.” These are primarily military
in style, discussing the sorts of forts that are to be built and the military
style government that will be adopted. (Quinn, Roanoke)
First Colony (1585 – 1586)
June 18, 1585: Sir Walter Raleigh sends out a party under the
command of Sir Richard Grenville with the assistance of Ralph Lane to found
a colony to be named Virginia. Thomas Hariot (chief scientist, instructed
to study Indian culture) and John White (surveyor and artist) are given special
instructions to study the land and people as part of this all-male venture.
They land on Roanoke Island in Palmico Sound and build a fort.
July 29, 1585: Granganimo comes with Manteo (who has returned
to the Americas and is acting a sort of liaison between the English and the
natives) to Port Ferdinando to discuss the location of an English fort.
August 17, 1585: Sir Richard Grenville returns to England for
supplies, leaving Ralph Lane in charge of the colony, and writes an account
of his voyage. (Virtual Jamestown)
Late Winter / Early Spring of 1586: Granganimo dies. Wingina,
who is the chief, renames himself Pemisapan (which in rough translation indicates
a distrust of white men) to show his wariness of the colonists.
March 1586: Lane takes the lame King Mematonon of Chawanook hostage
and forces him to act as a guide in exploring other inhabited areas ruled
by other tribes. He frees the king but keeps his favorite son, Skiko,
with him. This act shows Lane’s use of Indian tribes against one another.
April 20, 1586: Ensenore, father of Chief Wingina / Pemisapan
dies. He is one of the few Indians to still support the colonists and
was crucial in opposing hostility.
June 1, 1586: Lane kills Chief Wingina / Pemisapan after the
two plot back and forth to kill one another. Part of the reason behind
the tensions was Lane’s continuous demand that the Indians provide the settlers
with food.
June 19, 1586: Sir Francis Drake, stopping in during pirate raids,
departs from the colony, taking the colonists, many of whom are suffering
from food shortages, back to England with him, leaving behind three men who
are out on an excursion. Drake had simply meant to leave the colonists
with supplies and a few ships, but a major storm destroyed most of what he
intended to leave, thus causing the colonists to want to leave with him.
In their haste to depart, most books and writings are left behind or tossed
into the sea. Drake had in his possession at the time several hundred
African and Indian slaves who were either drowned in the storm or were left
on the island – there is no mention of their fate.
July 1586: The re-supply ship led by Sir Richard Grenville arrives.
Finding the colony deserted, Grenville leaves fifteen men to hold the fort.
(Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
July 27, 1586: Ralph Lane writes a report to Sir Walter Raleigh, telling
him what took place during his time with the colony. (Quinn, New American
World) (Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
Late 1586: Richard Hakluyt writes his own rendition of the colony
events. It is mostly propaganda -- glossing over the hardships of the
colony, making it sound as if the colonists were in better shape than they
were. There is, however, one mention of the cruelties done to the natives.
(Quinn and Quinn, First Colonists)
Second Colony (1587 – 1593)
1587: Hakluyt publishes editions
of Peter Martyr's Decades and Rene de Goulaine de Laudonniere's A
notable historie containing foure voyages made by certayne French captaynes
vnto Florida, both dedicated to Raleigh, as support for colonization.
July 22, 1587: Between 110 and 150 settlers, led by John White (Governor)
and twelve assistants, arrive on Roanoke Island. They originally depart
with the intention of settling in the Chesapeake Bay area but are instead
forced to settle in the area of the original abandoned fort because the captain
of the ship, Simon Fernandes, ordered them ashore at the old settlement so
that he could get back to hunting Spanish ships. This second colony
is different in that it is family structured, containing women and children,
while all other previous settlements had been in a military style.
Manteo returns again with the group. John White keeps a journal of
events throughout their stay in the colony. (Quinn, New American
World) (Virtual Jamestown)
July 28, 1587: As recounted in White's journal, George Howe,
one of the assistants to Governor White, is murdered by Indians while fishing
alone in shallow water. This marks the beginning of the downward spiral
of English / Indian relations. (Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
July 30, 1587: Captain Stafford takes Manteo and twenty men over
to Croatoan Island to investigate the murder of George Howe. The Indians
reveal that Howe was killed by some of Wingina’s men, who lived in Dasamonquepeio,
along with Wanchese (who was one of the original Indians taken back to America
with Amadas and Barlowe – upon his return to America he became hostile towards
the English). The Indians said that the fifteen colonists who had been
left behind were ambushed and killed by thirty warriors from the Secota, Aquascogoc,
and Damonquepeio tribes. The Croatoans agree to renew old ties with
the colonists but plead with them not to take any of their grain, as they
are already short of food. They also ask the settlers to give them
some sort of mark to identify them from Wingina’s people, so that they may
avoid mistaken hostility. (In the time that Lane’s colony was in the
area there were several incidents in which Croatoan people were mistakenly
attacked.) (Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
August 8, 1587: White, who had proposed a meeting of all leaders in
an attempt to resolve hostilities, realizes that he will not receive an answer
from the Pomeiock, Aquascogoc, Secota, and Dasamonquepeio chiefs. On
the next day, in an attempt to avenge the death of Howe, White leads an attack
against the village of Dasamonquepeio. Mistakenly, though, the Indians
who are killed are of the Croatoan tribe who had been there to take what
they could from the settlement after the Roanokes deserted it. Some
of those killed were women. Because of this, the Croatoans refuse to
supply the colonists with food when theirs begins to spoil. (Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
August 13, 1587: Manteo is christened and, by previous orders of Sir
Walter Raleigh, receives the title “Lord of Roanoke.”
August 18, 1587: John White’s daughter, Eleanor Dare, wife of
Ananias Dare, one of the assistants, gives birth to daughter Virginia, the
first English child born in America.
August 22, 1587: The assistants and planters request that White
return to England for supplies. White refuses on the basis that he will
be seen as abandoning the expedition, that his possessions will all be ruined
by the time he returns. On the next day, the request is made again
that White should return for supplies. The colonists provide him with
a signed pledge that they will not hold him accountable for abandonment and
that they will care for his possessions in his absence. White returns
to England for supplies on August 28. (Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
1588: Thomas Hariot’s manuscript, A Briefe and True Report of the
Newfound Land of Virginia, which details his findings and observations
from the first voyage, is published. It is the first authentic eyewitness
account of the colony. (Quinn, New American World) (Virtual Jamestown) [Display Quote]
1588: John White writes about his failed attempt to reach the colonists
(they were delayed during war with Spain). (Quinn, New American
World) [Display Quote]
March 20, 1590: John White departs from England in fleet of three
small ships, the Hopewell, Little John, and John Evangelist.
White was merely a passenger on these ships, with the mission of relieving
the colony secondary to the main mission of plundering other ships.
August 18, 1590: John White returns to find the colony, forever
afterwards known as the "Lost Colony," deserted, with no trace except for
the word “CROATOAN” that is carved on a post. This is an ambiguous
sign, as it is the name not only of a tribe but also of a nearby island.
(Virtual Jamestown) [Hide Quote]
from thence we returned by the water side, round about the North point of the Iland, untill we came to the place where I left our Colony in the yeere 1586. In all this way we saw in the sand the print of the Salvages feet of 2 or 3 sorts troaden ye night, and as we entred up the sandy banke upon a tree, in the very browe thereof were curiously carved these fair Romane letters C R O: which letters presently we knew to signifie the place, where I should find the planters seated, according to a secret token agreed upon betweene them & me at my last departure from them, which was, that in any wayes they should not faile to write or carve on the trees or posts of the dores the name of the place where they should be seated; for at my comming away they were prepared to remove from Roanoak 50 miles into the maine. Therefore at my departure from them in An. 1587 I willed them, that if they should happen to be distressed in any of those places, that then they should carve over the letters or name, a Crosse.
in this forme, but we found no such signe of distresse. And having well considered of this, we passed toward the place where they were left in sundry houses, but we found the houses taken downe, and the place very strongly enclosed with a high palisado of great trees, with cortynes and flankers very Fort-like, and one of the chiefe trees or postes at the right side of the entrance had the barke taken off, and 5 foote from the ground in fayre Capitall letters was graven CROATOAN without any crosse or signe of distresse; this done, we entred into the palisado, where we found many barres of Iron, two pigges of Lead, foure yron fowlers, Iron sacker- shotte, and such like heavie things, throwen here and there, almost overgrowen with grasse and weedes. From thence wee went along by the water side, towards the point of the Creeke to see if we could find any of their botes or Pinnisse, but we could perceive no signe of them, nor any of the last Falkons and small Ordinance which were left with them, at my departure from them. At our returne from the Creeke, some of our Saylers meeting us, tolde that they had found where divers chests had bene hidden, and long sithence digged up againe and broken up, and much of the goods in them spoyled and scattered about, but nothing left, of such things as the Savages knew any use of, undefaced.
September 30, 1590: After failed attempts and poor weather, the
fleet White is traveling with sets course for England. White had wanted
to search further for the colonists, but the crew refused to do so.
1590: Thomas Hariot’s A Briefe and True Report of the Newfound
Land of Virginia is included in the first folio edition of the younger
Hakluyt’s Principal Navigations, republished with some of White’s watercolors.
The book also contains several documents by Ralph Lane. It is widely
read and published in English, Latin, French, and German. (see Virtual Jamestown for White's paintings)
February 4, 1593: John White writes a letter to the younger Richard
Hakluyt, sending him an account of what went on in the colony. Hakluyt
will subsequently publish this narrative in a later edition of the compilation
entitled The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffics, and Discoveries
of the English Nation. (Quinn, New American World)
Aftermath
1595: After his failure in Virginia,
Raleigh leads an expedition to Guiana in search of El Dorado.
1596: Raleigh, The discoverie
of the large, rich and bewtiful empyre of Guiana. London, 1596.
(Ed. Neil L. Whitehead, Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 1997). [Display Quote]
1596: Raleigh's second expedition
to Guiana, and a report by leader Lawrence Keymis, A relation of the second
voyage to Guiana. London, 1596. (Facsimile edition New York:
Da Capo, 1968)
1606: Interest in Guiana wanes.
