Why English Colonization Never Succeeded Roanoke - Research Paper Example

11 June, Why English Colonization Never Succeeded Roanoke During the 16th century the rivalry between Spain and England sprouted from a number of reasons and some of the reasons of colonization was to mainly propagate religion and to benefit from the abundance of a newly found land by the use and abuse and/or by trade of resources such as raw materials, food, minerals and even workforce. Spain was on the lead during that time especially in colonizing the West in lieu of propagating the Catholic faith and cramming for the western abundance making them even more powerful in their pursuit of colonizing as many lands as they can. On the other hand, Anglican England would never settle the dispute against Spain but rather made a way in pursuit of finding a new Eden in the western land in finding abundance the same way Spain was having. Hence, on March 25 of 1584, Walter Ralegh secured from Queen Elizabeth a patent which granted him the exclusive right to establish a colony in remote and heathen barbarous lands, countries and territories that were not actually possessed by any Christian prince or inhabited by Christian people.1 In pursuit of a great land that would suffice the criteria that the English monarchy had been looking for, England had set forth a mission to scout for a land that fitted the criteria. As a first step toward pursuing this grand ambition in finding a new settlement in the west, Ralegh commissioned Arthur Barlowe and Philip Amadas to scout a location for the settlement and have found Roanoke Island to be promising with its great and untouched abundance. Roanoke was thought to be perfect and was chosen because it offered protection from Spanish assaults and at the same time it could cradle as a base for launching raids that they had been pursuing for some time to raid Spanish ships and rob them of the good materials they carried. Many great things were written about Roanoke especially by the early colonial settlers that had reached the island. They thought that they successfully penetrated the island but the first land was far from what they expected. The colonizing pursuit never came into realization though no obvious resentment was made by the natives at first because the English colonizers took the process abruptly and dominatingly hurried up to surpass the Spaniards as things were not made with plan but with urge that ignited two different worlds living in misunderstanding and with barriers. Ralph Lane describes Roanoke as having the goodliest soil under the scope of heaven, which is abundant with sweet trees that bring sundry rich and most pleasant fruits compared to Europe’s France, Italy and Spain. Moreover, Lane described it had many sorts of apothecary drugs and food resources such as wheat. Early colonists such as Lane were easily so blinded by the land greatness that they described it as a land of unknown greatness due to the many discoveries that they made during their first step into the savage land. Due to its geographical location and difference from Europe, the climate was very different and was found to be amazing. They found a land of great abundance but claimed that that abundance was hidden from its use since savages resided at the place that they described as being courteous and eager to have clothes rather than silk.2 The early and original settlers of Roanoke before the colonization attempts were Native American Indians. And the whole island was not just actually under one rule with different groups, but with a set of different leaders that did not follow one particular rule. Though the first step of the European colonizers came out well with the first natives that they saw upon touching the grounds of the newly found land, this accommodation did not imply the totality of the native Indians dwelling in the island. The native settlers were likewise awestruck by the coming of foreign strangers and were also amazed by the abundance the outsiders brought in the island, which they had never seen before. Trade instantly came into place as described by Barlowe’s in his report regarding the first encounter with a native, so even though a barrier in communication existed, still fear or doubt was never shown upon them because they offered the native a shirt, a hat, and some other things and made the native eat and drink their food and wine that was later paid with fish.3 The next day after the event the tribe leader came, who happened to be the brother of whom they first encountered. Communication and trade between the natives and the colonizers went out well on the first phases of encounter. Though the first encounter came out well, the settling among the natives of Roanoke eventually came into conflict. Two different cultures from two different sides of the world would definitely have a clash upon contact. This was the thing that was not seen and planned by the English – the reason why the colonization failed in Roanoke. First, the communication barrier was so evident that they did not lay upon the natives what they had in their plan of settlement in the island. The natives, though they were found to be accommodating, still doubted newcomers in respect of their true aim at coming into the island. The doubts led to spying each other, which eventually gave rise to misunderstanding and ended up in war in some instances. The English could have established friendship with all of the natives of Roanoke since the island was not under one rule, and the chances of rejection and connivance among the native groups were high against the newcomers. The similarities among the native groups was a greater factor than their differences from foreign people, for example in communication, since the island spoke the same native language in which one group could easily say bad things and make other group believe that the war was perpetrated by the foreign settlers, and have a version of a story to make them appear to have bad interest over the land. The reason why new attempts of having English settlers were already rejected by the native Indians of Roanoke considering outsiders as a threat and the killing could have happened again. The fear was obviously heightened due to differences. Another reason why settlers did not make it even during the last attempts of the colonization is due to inadequate supply and anxiety of the natives. Although the island was seen to be full of abundance, the English settlers were not costumed to live the life of hunting or gathering supply, which is different in the cities of England. The supply and demand in the island would have saturated well if the English colonizers had established well the trade relationship that would benefit both sides. Both groups would have benefited from a harmonious relationship by exchanging supplies and knowing each other’s culture, but unfortunately it ended differently. Roanoke never became an English colony because the clash of cultures resisted the colonization. The English colonizing attempts should have established a good relationship first with all the natives of Roanoke over time in an eventual process before finally deciding to have settlers within the island. The eventual process of establishing a relationship with all the native groups of Roanoke would have prevented the conflict of culture that arose from their abrupt attempts to penetrate Roanoke. Culture takes a long process to evolve and it would have taken a long process either to come in harmony or clash with another culture. Change in values, beliefs, activities and traditions will take a long process of encouragement and not by abruptly imposing it to avoid resistance. Works Cited Wheeler, William Bruce, Susan Becker, and Lorri Glover. “A History Mystery: What Happened to Roanoke Chapter 1.” Discovering the American Past. Cengage Learning, 2012. 1-34. Print. Read More