The first
permanent English settlement in what is now the United States was Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and capital of Virginia from 1607-1699. It was founded May 13, 1607, by the Virginia Company of London, on what was then a marshy peninsula (now Jamestown Island) of the James River, about 32 miles from its mouth.
Roanoke,
Virginia, is very much inland in the southwestern part of the state. Roanoke
Island, the site of the 1587 settlement, is indeed located on the barrier island chain (the Outer banks) of North Carolina just behind Nags Head and about 50 miles south of Virginia. Prior to 1663, this territory was all considered Virginia. The Roanoke Colony name applied to a famous land grant of the Crown. In 1587 Sir Walter Raleigh, having obtained a large grant of land from Queen Elizabeth, sent out, April 9, seven vessels and 108 settlers under the command of Sir Richard Grenville. After skirting the West Indies and Hispaniola (dressing all the natives there in skirts
), they landed at Roanoke, in North Carolina, June 20. Ralph Lane was left in charge of the settlement and Grenville returned to England. During the following winter Lane made numerous exploring expeditions and suffered greatly from Indian attacks. In the spring he received some aid in men and supplies from Sir Francis Drake, but finally persuaded Drake to take them home. Soon after Grenville arrived with new settlers. These had been destroyed by the Indians when, in 1587, a new colony of Raleigh's, under an officer named John White, came out. White himself returned to England. When he came back in 1591 he found the colony vanished (the fabled Lost Roanoke Colony)--but the strange word
"Croatan" was carved on a doorpost.
The Lost Colony of Roanoke remains one of the foremost archaeological mysteries in North America (along with the disappearance of the Anasazi).
In 1663 Charles II granted a charter to 8 English gentlemen who had helped him to regain the crown. The territory was called Carolina in honor of Charles the First ("Carolus" is the Latin form of "Charles"). There you go, Dr. Bill, Carolina has Latin roots!
Dates on the Roanoke settlement vary by a year or two in some accounts, as early as 1585, and some trimming the final disappearance back to 1590.
