Q 01/05

Which single word did searchers find carved into a post at the abandoned Roanoke settlement in 1590?

A) Secotan

B) Pamlico

C) Croatoan

D) Chowanoke

Answer · why

C) Croatoan

Croatoan was the name of a nearby island and its friendly people, so the governor took the carving to mean the settlers had moved there.

Q 02/05

Who, born on Roanoke Island in 1587, was the first child of English parents born in the New World?

A) Virginia Dare

B) Mary Chilton

C) Priscilla Mullins

D) Anne Bradstreet

Answer · why

A) Virginia Dare

Virginia Dare was nine days old when the supply ships sailed back to England, and no English visitor is known to have seen her again.

Q 03/05

Which English courtier sponsored the Roanoke voyages yet never set foot in North America himself?

A) Sir Philip Sidney

B) Sir Walter Raleigh

C) Sir Christopher Hatton

D) Sir Robert Cecil

Answer · why

B) Sir Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh was forbidden to leave the royal court, so he ran the venture from England and sent trusted associates across the Atlantic.

Q 04/05

Which threat kept English ships in port in 1588, cutting Roanoke's settlers off from supplies?

A) The Babington Plot

B) The Northern Rebellion

C) The Nine Years' War

D) The Spanish Armada

Answer · why

D) The Spanish Armada

The Spanish Armada was gathering to attack, so every able ship was held for the coming battle and no relief reached the island until 1590.

Q 05/05

Which monarch granted the 1584 charter that let a favorite courtier launch the Roanoke voyages?

A) Henry VIII

B) Elizabeth I

C) James I

D) Lady Jane Grey

Answer · why

B) Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I attached a deadline to the charter: plant a colony within a few years or lose the right to colonise.