England's First Attempts at Colonization
Before you learned that England, France, and the Dutch (Netherlands) were all trying to explore and establish colonies in North America. They wanted to challenge Spain's power. Now, you will learn how successful England was at setting up its first colonies.
England first explores and tries to establish a colony at Roanoke Island in 1584, which is an island in the NC Outer Banks.
England first tried to set up colonies at Ronoake Island in 1585. This attempt was known as the Ralph Lane Colony . This colony failed due to conflict with Native Americans and lack of food and supplies.
England tried one more time in 1587 to set up a colony at Roanoke Island. This time they called the colony the John White Colony , but it would become known as the Lost Colony because it is a mystery as to why the colony disappeared.
Historians do know that the John White Colony was suffering from some of the same problems as the Ralph Lane Colony such as problems with Native Americans and lack of food and supplies.
England failed at Roanoke Island, but 20 years later in 1607, at Jamestown, Virginia, England tried once again and would be successful.The Virginia Company , a private joint-stock company , paid for this colony as an investment.
Jamestown was almost unsuccessful too. Colonists almost starved to death. However, strong leaders such as John Smith and Lord De La Warr forced the colonists to grow food rather than look for gold all the time.
Click here to learn more about life in Jamestown.
Plus, thanks to John Rolfe , the colonists learned how to plant and sell tobacco which made them a lot of money.
Pocohontas and John Rolfe eventually became married, which helped bring peace between Native Americans and colonists at Jamestown.