I’ve posted some of John White’s watercolors before, but this one in particular stands out because of the charismatic young woman whose portrait survives, although her name doesn’t appear to have been recorded anywhere. White was commissioned by Sir Walter Raleigh to paint the scenes and peoples living in what the Roanoke area of what is now North Carolina. White was also the grandfather of Virginia Dare.
The whole supposed “mystery” around the disappearance of the colonists at Roanoke is contingent on the dehumanization of the people who already lived there; people like the young woman pictured above. The British invaders who were abandoned by White and Raleigh left clear indication that their departure was not forced, and that they had been adopted by a community of indigenous people living on a nearby island. They carved the name of their new home in both a post and a tree nearby, in case anyone should later try and find them again.
British farthings and a gold ring were found later by archeologists at Croatoan, adding physical evidence to the surviving records. This is further supported by information given by various indigenous people later, who explained thusly:
A farther Confirmation of this we have from the Hatteras Indians, who
either then lived on Ronoak-Island, or much frequented it. These tell
us, that several of their Ancestors were white People, and could talk in
a Book, as we do; the Truth of which is confirm’d by gray Eyes being
found frequently amongst these Indians, and no others. They value
themselves extremely for their Affinity to the English, and are ready to
do them all friendly Offices. It is probable, that this Settlement
miscarry’d for want of timely Supplies from England; or thro’ the
Treachery of the Natives, for we may reasonably suppose that the English
were forced to cohabit with them, for Relief and Conversation; and that
in process of Time, they conform’d themselves to the Manners of their
Indian Relations.
The whole crux of the colony at Roanoke being considered a “Failure” is not because the people didn’t survive; all evidence indicates that they did survive, and that they thrived. What failed to survive was British values, religion, houses, and other cultural objects that seemed to have been mourned more than the actual people were. It’s very telling that once it was made clear to White and the others that the community they’d abandoned had adopted another culture and community, they stopped looking for them completely. They never went to Croatoan to discover what had become of their family members, possibly out of shock and disgust that they had “abandoned their ways” instead of just dying, I suppose.
The idea that both individuals and communities “disappeared” through some kind of supernatural circumstances are almost as pervasive of a cultural myth as the idea that the Americas were “unoccupied” when European invaders arrived. There are a lot of people who’ve written about and argued over the details, and a few who still believe, for example, that the Spanish destroyed the town and killed the people who lived there, but it’s my opinion that the evidence really doesn’t support it.
IMAGINE HEARING ABOUT THE DUDEBRO LIVING NEXT TO U IN THE DORMS “yah dave dropped out cuz he built a fucking person”
victor frankenstein was a little bITCH and he had no degree at all, he was at college for like, a year and then he was like “lol these bitches ain’t got nothing on me” and he just got an apartment and stopped going to school so he could build a person. i don’t think he even formally dropped out, he just kind of disappeared and nobody even questioned it because that’s what you expect when some cocky asshole comes to class like “i know more than everyone in this school and one day i’m going to prove it by ending dEATH ITSELF”
fucking bullshit victor, come home and eat some goddamn soup you wussass teenager
fucking trashass motherfucker 19 year old sin machine
go get ur liver pecked by birds u mess of a human being
i am never going to let the world forget that victor frankenstein spent 90% of the novel moping instead of doing literally anything else. actual quote from emo kid victor frankenstein “my only solace was silence - deep, dark, deathlike silence” like HOW EXTRA
You’d almost think Mary Shelly was taking inspiration from someone she knew….
Leave Lord Byron alone
Lord Byron deserves what he gets and he knows it
The Wicked + The Divine Special Issue: 1831, out September 21 at a fine comics retailer and/or Comixology. Find out just what Lord Byron’s been getting.
