Original Lost Colony

I read with interest the latest research to find what many call the Lost Colony, but it really makes me wonder who the Original Lost Colony was? If you grew up in the United States chances are you were taught how noble and wonderful the Lost Colony on Roanoke Island was. You might also remember learning that after being delayed for three years Captain John White finally made it back to what is now North Carolina and found an empty fort.

John White left his daughter and grandchild in the new settlement and returned to England for supplies. This new settlement was designed as a business opportunity. Sir Walter Raleigh was trying to make money while settling a new continent. I have no doubt that when John White came back he made a through search for the settlers. I am just a bit skeptical that if they moved 50 miles inland that he would not have found them.

Further thoughts would lead to the fact that the area they did move to was in the area that North Carolina was permanently settled years later. Most likely there would have been an oral history passed down by Indian tribes about the settlement. It is the thought of those tribes that leads me to the big question.

Exactly how do you define who makes up the Lost Colony. The history books have been skewed to paint a romantic image of the English settlers. Reality tells a different story. It is refreshing to read more accurate accounts like I reviewed that show the real record of the treatment of the Indians.

I think a fair analysis of the situation would show the Indian villages in that part of North Carolina are the Original Lost Colony. They typically lived in a peaceful society and would have been willing to help the settlers. The English settlers were most likely assimilated into a tribe in my opinion. The truth is that when the English settlers came they introduced physical disease and a mindset of ownership of gifts from God.

The Indian settlements that were displaced were the Original Lost Colony as it was the launching point of a violent and unjust colonization. It was achievable by superior weapons and sheer volumes of people. No matter where the Lost Colony ended up geographically it was the tip of spear for what was to come.