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North Carolina was one of the 13 original colonies prior to the Revolutionary War.  It was the 12th state to ratify the new United States Constitution and did so on November 21, 1789.  It has an area of about 48,700 square miles with a population of just over 8.5 million people, making it the 11th most populous state in the nation.  The capital city is Raleigh and has hundreds of miles of Atlantic coastline which makes it a popular vacation spot.

In 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh (what city was named after him do you think?) sent out a colony to remain in America. Sir Richard Grenville, a famous seaman, had command of this expedition but he soon returned to England, leaving the colony in charge of a man called Ralph Lane.  They made their settlement on Roanoke Island, which lies near to the coast of North Carolina, and they explored the mainland in many directions.  Sir Francis Drake came to see the colony on his return from an expedition to the West Indies. He gave the company on the island a ship and whatever else they needed. But while he was at Roanoke a storm arose which drove out to sea the ship he had given to Lane. This so discouraged the colonists that they returned to England.

No being one to give up Raleigh set to work to send out another colony, only this time he sent women and children, as well as men, intending to make a permanent settlement.  The governor of this company was John White. Soon after White's company had settled themselves on Roanoke Island, an English child was born. This little girl, being the first English child born in Virginia, was named Virginia Dare.

John White, the governor of the colony, who was Virginia Dare's grandfather, went back to England for supplies. He was detained by the war with Spain, and, when he got back to Roanoke Island, the colony had disappeared.

Raleigh had spent so much money already that he was forced to give up the attempt to plant a colony in America. But he sent several times to seek for the lost people of his second colony, without finding them. Twenty years after John White left them, it was said that seven of them were still alive among the Indians of North Carolina, but no one knows what happened to the lost Colony of Roanoke.

A brief history of Arizona. Drag the time line to see more events and click on the titles to see a description.

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