United States History Student Edition

01 Introducing The English Colonies

England's North American Colonies England began colonizing North America in the 1580s. Some people came for profit, and others came to practice their religion freely. Together, these groups planted seeds that would grow into a unique country, unfortunately at a terrible cost to other peoples, including Native Americans and Africans.

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A Mysterious Disappearance In 1587 England attempted to create a colony on Roanoke Island, which lies near what is today North Carolina. John White, the colony's leader, returned to Roanoke after a long absence to find all the colonists had disappeared, leaving behind only the word CROATOAN carved into a gatepost of their fort, as depicted in this drawing from the 1800s. Their fate remains a mystery to this day.

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