Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Roanoke: Violent Beginnings - Part I

   Part one of a four part series on the lost colony of Roanoke.



England began to sail over the Atlantic Ocean to the seemingly obscure New World during the late sixteenth century. Exploration and colonization of Virginia began in 1578, when Queen Elizabeth gave Sir Humphrey Gilbert a patent to colonize America. Nearly a decade later in 1587 the first English colony in America is established on Roanoke Island and ended in total disaster, the disappearance of the entire colony. The colony of Roanoke vanished from the English map in 1590; the reason was that the population from the colony assimilated into the surrounding Indian communities because England was more preoccupied with Spain and showed little support for the American colony.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert originally proposed the idea of a northwest passage to the oriental coast over the northern tip of America in 1566. He believed that, “if England secured such a route, she would establish herself as a major commercial power and eventually come to rival Spain’s rapidly growing overseas empire.”[i] Spain was a powerful nation that was gaining enormous wealth from the West Indies and Central America. The threat from Spain grew over the next few years and finally in 1578 Gilbert was granted an exclusive patent by Queen Elizabeth to discover and colonize American lands not yet inhabited by Spain.[ii] He must plant a new colony within six years or he would lose his right to colonize the New World.
Just a few months after the patent was granted, Gilbert formed a fleet to sail over the Atlantic Ocean. The voyage was a failure and Gilbert quickly returned to England. A few years later he dispatched a small frigate led by mariner Simon Fernandez on a reconnaissance mission in 1580. Fernandez was previously a Spanish navigator who turned rogue and lived as a pirate until he was arrested by England and agreed to serve the crown as a navigator in exchange for his freedom. After his release he aided Gilbert and, later, Sir Walter Raleigh on their attempts to reach America and he was an essential cog to the American expeditions for the next decade.[iii]
The voyage was a success, with Fernandez traveling along the North American coast and returning before the end of summer. This trip strengthened Gilbert’s resolve and he was determined to attempt to reach America before his exclusive patent expired.[iv] In early 1583 he embarked with a fleet of five ships to America.
Throughout the voyage sickness and dissention spread through the sailors, and it led to several of the ships sailing home early. When one of the ships sank off the coast of Nova Scotia the expedition began to sail back to England, failing to establish a potential shoreline to build a fort and colony on. On the way home the ships ran through a furious storm and the ship Sir Humphrey Gilbert resided on sank. The captain of the voyages flagship, the Golden Hind, recorded this horror: “For in that moment, the frigate was devoured and swallowed up of the sea.”[v] Gilbert was, as Queen Elizabeth notably said, “a man noted of not good hap [fortune] by seas.”[vi]
Queen Elizabeth transferred the patent in 1584 to the newly knighted Sir Walter Raleigh.[vii] The patent demanded he establish a colony or he would lose the right of colonization in America, the same circumstance Sir Humphrey Gilbert was under. For the next year Raleigh turned his quarters at Durham House into a station for mariners, promoters and scholars. Richard Hakluyt, John White, Thomas Hariot, Simon Fernandez and others were recruited to draft plans for sailing to America and establishing a colony.[viii] During this time the general location of the colony was decided on. Raleigh wanted a colony that was far north of Florida and the Spanish garrisons located in the region and he selected the Chesapeake Bay because of Fernandez’s familiarity with the region.
In less then a year the first voyage to Virginia commenced. It was a small reconnaissance mission consisting of two ships and several skilled men and soldiers. Most importantly it had the scientist Thomas Hariot and artist John White on board and was led by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe with Simon Fernandez navigating. The exact plan for the expedition was never given, but the primary reasons were to locate a suitable site for the future colony, make contact with the local natives and to take extensive notes of the area. [ix]
The expedition sailed to America and landed on the island of Hattaras, which is located on the outer banks of Pamlico Sound. They proclaimed the land as property of the English crown. The land was fertile and seemingly untouched with cedar, pine, cypress and sassafras trees covering the land. [x] They slowly began to explore the region with Hariot taking extensive notes of everything he encountered and White drawing renderings of the natives, fauna and wildlife.
Three days after landing first contact was made with the native Indians as three Indians approached the ships because of their curiosity. These Algonquian Indians were from the town of Pomeiooc, which Granganimeo was the weroance, or chief.[xi] The following day fifty more Indians came to the English and began to barter and welcome the visitors. This included Granganimeo as well. Over the following weeks relations were peaceful and often included Indians visiting on board the English ships. Arthur Barlowe observed that the Indians behavior was as “mannerly and civil as any of Europe.”[xii]
That was the warmest reception the English received from the natives as when they ventured to Roanoke Island, Arthur Barlowe and Thomas Hariot were initially greeted with hostilities from Indians on the island, but they began to welcome them after they showed trade goods and offered them. Conversely, Philip Amadas and Simon Fernandez sailed a pinnacle to the northern shore of Albemarle Sound and had a skirmish with the native Indians. The Secotans and Weapemeoc Indians killed a small number of the English, sending a clear message that not all the natives were welcoming.[xiii]








[i]James Horn, A Kingdom Strange: The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke (New York: Basic Books, 2010), 8.
[ii]Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation (Cambridge, 1965), 135-37.
[iii]Lee Miller, Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony (New York: Penguin, 2000), 171.
[iv]David B. Quinn, Set Fair for Roanoke (University of N. Carolina Press, 1985), 7.
[v]Richard Hakluyt, Principall Navigations (Cambridge, 1965), 296.
[vi]Kenneth Andrews, Trade, Plunder and Settlement (Cambridge, 1984), 194-97.
[vii]Karen Ordahl Kupperman, Roanoke: The Abandoned Colony (United States: Barnes & Noble, 1993), 12.
[viii]David B. Quinn, Set Fair for Roanoke (University of N. Carolina Press, 1985), 7-9, 45-46.
[ix]James Horn, A Kingdom Strange (New York: Basic Books, 2010), 41.
[x]Ibid, 43.
[xi]Thomas Hariot, A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (New York: Dover, 1972), 46.
[xii]David B. Quinn, The Roanoke Voyages 1584-1590 (New York: Dover, 1991), 101-104.
[xiii]James Horn, A Kingdom Strange (New York: Basic Books, 2010), 54.

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