The base of a 400-year-old mystery is his colony

Raleigh oversaw the first attempt to establish a permanent English settlement in the New World with a charter from the queen. Roanoke Island, which is a barrier island in North Carolina's Outer Banks, was discovered to be a potential colony site in 1584 by an exploring mission. After Elizabeth, the "virgin queen" of England, gave the territory the name Virginia. The following year, a small village and fort were built on Roanoke, but as they waited for more supplies from England, the colonists battled with Native American tribes and grew more desperate.

Raleigh sent a party of 118 men, women, and children to Roanoke in 1587 to replace the former batch of colonists despite never having visited the city (most of whom had sailed back to England). They chose Raleigh's buddy John White to lead them as governor. White immediately made his way back to England to plead for further aid and supplies, but the start of the war with Spain delayed his trip back to Roanoke. The colony was no longer there in 1590 when White last visited Roanoke. The only hint was the word "Croatoan" carved into a post, which might have been a reference to the Croatan tribe further south, but searches of the area produced no results. There has never been any concrete proof of what happened to the alleged "Lost Colony," despite the efforts of numerous historians.