A map named “La Virginea Pars” painted by explorer John White between 1585-1586 shows a patch stuck to the map — which could be a clue to understand what happened to the Roanoke settlement that disappeared after White sailed back to England. (AP Photo/British Museum)
In 1585, explorer John White traveled to Roanoke Island, and made a map and other drawings of the island. In 1587, a colony of 116 English settlers landed on Roanoke Island, led by White.
He left the island for England for more supplies but couldn’t return again until 1590 because of the war between England and Spain.
When he came back, the colony was gone — lost in the wilds of a young America.
Now experts from the First Colony Foundation and the British Museum in London have taken a fresh look at White’s 425-year-old map (the “Virginea Pars” map of Virginia and North Carolina has been owned by the British Museum since 1866) and uncovered a tantalizing clue about the fate of “the Lost Colony,” the settlers who disappeared from North Carolina’s Roanoke Island in the late 16th century.
“We believe that this evidence provides conclusive proof that they moved westward up the Albemarle Sound to the confluence of the Chowan and Roanoke rivers,” said James Horn, vice president of research and historical interpretation at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and author of a 2010 book about the Lost Colony.
Attached to the map are two patches: One patch appears to merely correct a mistake on the map, but the other — in what is modern-day Bertie County in northeastern North Carolina — hides what appears to be a fort. Another symbol, appearing to be the very faint image of a different kind of fort, is drawn on top of the patch.
Read the rest of the story here.
Article by Associated Press and Fox News
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