Posted on 10/25/2006 9:13:12 PM PDT by FLOutdoorsman
I'm always fascinated by that. One of the great things about North America (most of it that is) is that it was settled by the English, with their strong civil and increasingly democratic traditions.
If one looks at the sh*thole countries of Mexico on south, or even the French parts of Canada or Louisiana, one sees how different history could have been.
I've always had a bit of a pet peeve with "The Lost Colony" though. Most of us were taught that it was the first European colony in the New World, but it was established in 1587. The French had established a fort and colony on the St. Johns River in 1564 followed by the Spanish establishing St. Augustine in 1565. By the time the first "English" settlers were mysteriously disappearing, St. Augustine was a thriving town; 42 years before Jamestown and 55 years before the pilgrims landed.
Local folks have a pretty good idea of where they went. The colony was more or less abandoned and survivors went native. Many of the local Indians have had surnames from the colony's roster and there were individuals among them that looked like Englishmen according to Jamestownians. Dare is a big name among the local Indian derivatives.
This may be too recent in history for a GGG ping, but I'm pinging you anyway.
I never heard "first European Colony" and I lived in southeast Virginia and went to school and history classes there. I always heard that it was the first English permanent settlement. The same history books had Spaniards in Georgia already.
It wasn't the first English permanent settlement...it mysteriously disappeared. The first title goes to Jamestown.
No, most of us were taught that it was the first English colony in the New World and that is correct along with Virginia Dare being the first English baby born in North America.
At the same time, were you taught about the French and Spanish in Florida and their timeline relationship to the failed Lost Colony?
It was the first attempt at a permanent settlement. The previous settlements of people "wintering over" were just for exploration -- they never meant to stay permanently. Roanoke was meant to be permanent even though it failed.
Yes. But I grew up in North Carolina, so maybe they attempted to get that part of the history right more than other states might have.
Can you jog my memory?
What was that word that they found carved in the tree?
Spent four years in Elizabeth City myself...lovely place. It was there that our oldest son was told in school that Roanoke was the first attempt to form a colony; there were no qualifications in the school book about nationality. This was a few years back so I'm sure things have changed.
Croatoa or something like that.
Isn't there some sort of DNA confirmation amongst the natives?
Thanks, it's late. I'll let SunkenCiv decide.
Croatoan.
Indian tribe.
I read once that it was proposed to do that but I got distracted after that and don't know. I suppose I should do some internet searching now.
Just to be plain, my wife bought it!
I believe there was a tribe or band whose name (unwritten, of course) was believed to sound like what that spelling represented ca 1600.
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