Researchers find hidden detail in 400-year-old map that may have solved ‘America’s greatest mystery’

English colonists have traveled all across the world looking for new land for centuries. While that instinct has faded in the current political climate, researchers have still not been able to figure out the fate of some US settlers who disappeared soon after hitting the shoreline of an island between North Carolina and the Outer Banks in 1587. Their disappearance is widely debated among archaeologists, historians, and explorers. But a hidden clue recently discovered may chart out what went wrong with the settlers in their feat to establish the first permanent English settlement, as per the National Park Service. 

A map titled, "La Virginea Pars" provided new context on the settlers who landed on Roanoke, an island plagued by the mystery of the colonists who vanished upon arrival without a trace. Therefore, the map drawn by cartographer and governor John White showed the North Carolina shoreline running from Currituck to the middle coast. Centuries later, experts from the British Museum were able to discover a hidden detail about the map that allowed a deeper understanding of the island’s demographics in that era. Outlines drawn with invisible ink were visible when placed on a lightbox showing what appeared to be two forts, 50 miles west of Roanoke. 

Curator Kim Sloan said, "I think we just discovered the intended site for the 'Cittie of Raleigh,' the colony that John White was sent to Virginia to found,” per GB News. It is presumed that the invisible ink was used to conceal information from hostile Spaniards in the region. At present, the location is called Bertie County in North Carolina, less than 100 miles from the spot where the colonists disappeared. Eventual discoveries of English ceramic artifacts from the ground location only ascertained their existence there. Archaeologist Nicholas Luccketti of the James River Institute for Archaeology unearthed the ceramic items from the site, now called 31BR246, in 2007. 

The North Carolina First Colony Foundation later investigated the region, particularly the Site X, with the help of satellite-based remote sensing technology and found additional artefacts that probably belonged to the English settlers. Meanwhile, White, who later established the island colony, found the word “CROATAN” carved in a tree and was made privy to his fellow colonists' mysterious disappearance when he returned in 1590. According to the report, the expedition carried 115 explorers, including the first children and women traveling to the American sub-continent. The voyage was backed by Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh to establish another English colony in a new land. Eleanor White Dare, the daughter of Governor White, was among the disappeared people. 

She gave birth to her daughter, Virginia Dare, the first English baby in the new colony before White returned to England to get supplies. Unfortunately, he was not able to return until three years later due to the Anglo-Spanish war. Upon his return in 1590, he was shocked to find the colony was deserted with little to no trace of his family and fellow colonists. The mystery still remains unexplained, but with the new discovery, there is hope that it shall soon be unraveled. However, there are myriads of theories and speculation about the fate of the English settlers. Some suggest that they were killed by native American tribes or the Spanish while others figure they might have succumbed to famine, disaster, or natural causes.