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Ralegh's First Colony, 1585 - 1586 The reconnaissance expedition that returned to England in mid-September 1584 delivered a glowing report of the new territory and its people. In spite of the escalating cold war between England and Spain, an enthusiastic Ralegh sent a colony of 108 men in the spring of 1585 to establish a settlement in the New World. Sir Richard Grenville transported the first settlers to the coast of modern North Carolina, made preliminary explorations of the area, put Ralph Lane in charge of the colony, and returned to England for supplies, capturing prize ships along the way. In the eleven months that followed, Lane and his men explored the surrounding area and assessed the economic potential of its resources. Deteriorating relations with the Native Americans and a shortage of food and supplies created severe hardships for the fledgling settlement, worsened by Grenville's failure to resupply them by the appointed time. Disheartened, the colonists abandoned the settlement and sailed to England with Sir Francis Drake when he stopped by Roanoke Island at the end of his West Indian voyage in June 1586. Upon their arrival in England, many of the ex-colonists complained loudly about life in the New World, but Thomas Harriot, in his "A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia" (1588), extolled the land's potential. The following links provide an overview of persons and events associated with the 1585 - 1586 colony and develop telling details: Piracy, Privateering, and Elizabethan Maritime Expansion Sir Richard Grenville Thomas Cavendish Forts of the Roanoke Colonists, 1584 - 1590 Arms and Armor of the Roanoke Colonists Thomas Harriot, Trumpet of Roanoke Wild Plants of Eastern North Carolina Animals, Birds, and Fish of the New World Sir Francis Drake Postal Firsts |
Last updated: April 14, 2015