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Colonial America (1492-1765)
 The Lost Colony

The Lost Colony
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.69

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    resupply, original, settling, repaired, archaeologists, carving, looming, tribe, arrival, natural, settlement, destination, settle, nevertheless, stocking, leader
     content words:    Roanoke Island, North Carolina, American History, Sir Walter Raleigh, New World, Queen Elizabeth, On May, North America, North American, John White

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The Lost Colony
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     Roanoke Island is a small island off the coast of North Carolina. There are two interesting stories about the island that date back to the 1500's. One story is English; it has been handed down in American History books. The other story is Croatan; it has been handed down through the generations of Croatan oral history.
 
2     The first story begins in England, where in 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh outfitted a ship and sent explorers to the New World to scout out the best place for a settlement. They returned with promising reports of a land rich in natural resources. They left behind only 15 men to guard the fort that they had built on Roanoke Island.
 
3     Their reports were enough to stir up more interest in settling a colony in America. Queen Elizabeth even gave Raleigh the charter to all of the land he could occupy there. Soon he was ready to send out a second expedition. This expedition of three sailing ships carried 107 settlers, including men, women, and children. They planned to settle permanently in the New World and build the first British colony there. On May 8, 1587, they sailed from Plymouth, England. As they approached North America, they sailed past Haiti, where ships had stopped in the past for supplies, but they sailed on past without stocking up. Maybe they were anxious to get to their destination. Maybe the looming war between England and Spain make them decide not to make a stop.
 
4     The three ships arrived at Roanoke Island, in the large area of North American land that Queen Elizabeth had named Virginia. They found the fort and the houses built by the first expedition, but the fifteen men left behind had either left Roanoke or died. The new settlers repaired the houses and the fort, and they built new houses. John White, the leader of the expedition, became the governor. He called his colony the Cittie of Raleigh.

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