Roanoke Island
What's the conspiracy theory about that?
From Wikipedia:
Roanoke Island was the site of the 16th century Roanoke Colony, the first English colony in the New World in what was then called Virginia, in honor of England's ruling monarch, Queen Elizabeth I, popularly known as the "virgin queen" because she never married. There were two major groups of settlers who attempted to establish a permanent settlement at Roanoke Island, and each failed.
The first attempt to establish the Roanoke Colony was run by Ralph Lane after Sir Richard Grenville, who had transported the colonists to Virginia, returned to England for supplies. These colonists were ill-prepared and not particularly clever, because, although they depended upon the local American Indians for food, they also antagonized the Indians by such tactics as kidnapping them and holding them hostage in exchange for information. Unfortunately for the colonists, who were desperately in need of supplies, Grenville's return was delayed. As a result, when Sir Francis Drake put in at Roanoke after destroying the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, the entire population of the colony returned with Drake to England.
In 1587, the English again attempted to settle Roanoke Island, led by John White. However, John White left the colony to return to England for supplies that he felt would help them to survive, expecting to return to Roanoke Island within 3 months. Instead, he found England at war with Spain, and all ships were confiscated for use in the war efforts. His return to Roanoke Island was delayed until 1590. When he finally returned, the colonists had disappeared. The only thing he found was the word "Croatoan" carved into a post of the fort and "Cro" carved into a nearby tree, telling about the Indians who lived close by. Their fate has never been authoritatively ascertained, and they became known as "The Lost Colony".
