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Roanoke, the first English colony in the New World, was founded at Roanoke Island in what was then Virginia (now North Carolina, United States) in 1586.
The enterprise was financed and organized by Sir Walter Raleigh, who had received a charter for the colonization of Virginia from Queen Elizabeth I of England.
The first settlers returned to England a year later after killing Winginia, leader of the natives, and running out of supplies. A second group of English settlers arrived on Roanoke Island on July 22, 1587 to re-establish the colony. Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Gov. John White of the colony, was born the next month on August 18th becoming the first English child born in the Americas.
John White returned from a supply-trip to England on his granddaughter's third birthday but found his settlement deserted. He organized a search but his men could not find any trace of the colonists. Some 90 men, 17 women, and 9 children had disappeared; there was no sign of a struggle or battle of any kind, and the people seemed to have left suddenly in the middle of other tasks. The only clue was the word "Croatoan" carved on to a tree. White took this to mean that they had moved to Croatoan Island, but no evidence of them was found there either. What became of them is still a mystery; and Roanoke is often referred to as the Lost Colony.