Roanoke Colony Returns: Settlers Who Will Vanish
Governor John White returned to Roanoke Island in August 1590 after three years of delay caused by the Spanish Armada and found every colonist gone. The only clues were the word "CROATOAN" carved into a fence post and "CRO" scratched into a tree. White had left 115 settlers, including his own daughter and infant granddaughter Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas. No bodies, no signs of violence, no graves. The colonists may have integrated with the Croatoan (Lumbee) tribe on nearby Hatteras Island; later explorers reported gray-eyed Indians who spoke English. The mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke remains unsolved after more than 400 years.
July 22, 1587
439 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on July 22
The Abbasid army crushed Emperor Theophilos’s forces at the Battle of Anzen, nearly capturing the Byzantine ruler himself. This defeat shattered the myth of Byz…
The elected king refused to wear a crown of gold where Christ wore thorns. Godfrey of Bouillon took Jerusalem on July 15, 1099, after a siege that left the stre…
Crusaders slaughtered nearly the entire population of Béziers, including thousands of Catholics, during the opening act of the Albigensian Crusade. By refusing …
A coalition of German princes and towns shattered King Valdemar II’s Baltic empire at the Battle of Bornhöved, ending Danish dominance in Northern Europe. This …
King Edward I brought 12,500 soldiers, including hundreds of Welsh and Irish longbowmen, against William Wallace's Scottish army at Falkirk on July 22, 1298. Wa…
The Danube rose twenty feet in a single day. July 1342. Rivers across central Europe tore away entire villages, drowned livestock by the thousands, and turned f…
Talk to History
Have a conversation with historical figures who witnessed this era. Ask questions, explore perspectives, and bring history to life.