A Review of The Beginnings of English America by David Stick

David Stick's book, Roanoke Island: The Beginnings of English America, is a realistic and insightful look at the series of events that made up the brief colonization of Roanoke Island. The book describes the trials and tribulations of navigators, colonists, Indians, and government officials during these chartered voyages to the New World, which ultimately resulted in the settlement and disappearance of this historical colony.

The ultimate interest in the New World (America) was heavily fed to the English purely because they wanted to stake their claim on a piece of this land before the Spanish could get to it. England and Spain were rivals when it came to navigation and settlement. There were a total of four expeditions that comprised the happenings of Roanoke Island. Sir Walter Raleigh had the charter from Queen Elizabeth to carry out such expeditions.

One thing in the book that was striking was the fact that during one of the expeditions, before reaching Roanoke Island, the crew, consisting of John White and associates, landed their ships on Spanish Territory, in the Spanish Indies, which is now present day St. Thomas. They apparently stopped there to rest and to gather some natural supplies such as salt. This action on the part of the English seems extremely presumptuous. They knew they were landing on foreign territory. Not only foreign territory but the territory of their enemies. This seems to speak volumes for the British. This shows that perhaps they had a bit of a pompous, cocky attitude. It also shows that they would do whatever it took to achieve their main goal, search and claim a part of the new world.

A good strategy that the English seemed to have was to make friends with the natives. They also became familiar as to how their lives worked. They learned of how Indians utilized copper, that they were expert fishermen, and even better cooks. They also took note of how they set up their villages, in hopes to maybe emulate some features for their own colony. Armadas and Barlowe, for example, befriended the Wiginia's. The Indians even wanted to Englishmen to join in the fight against the other Indians. Armadas and Barlowe said no, of course, because they did not want to get involved in domestic problems in this newfound land. Befriending the Indians was strategically a good move; if they wanted to settle on the "Indian's Land", why not gain their trust and learn about them, in order for the English to get what they wanted.

Many people tell and know the story of The Lost Colony. However, the one thing that people know or remember about this colony is that they disappeared. Stick's book on Roanoke Island shows that there was much more to this colony that the fact that it disappeared. Much planning, deliberating, and numerous voyages contributed to planning out this settlement. Stick shows us that this was a highly deliberated project. The Queen was interested in having the mother country stake its claim in the New World. However, she seemed most interested when she suggested that they new land be named after her. The Queen was also convinced that settling in this new land could make her money, which made her ultimately interested.

Personally, I learned that extensive planning in the motherland of England could not guarantee the succession of such a project. Even though there were people making lists and trying to pinpoint every possible problem that could occur in the new settlement, it was through experience that lessons were learned. This is in part why Jamestown was so successful.

Stick takes a non-objective view at this time in North Carolina History and offers many theories as to what happened to the colonists of Roanoke Island. Some say that the Indians killed them all; others say that the men were killed, while women and children were spared and went off to live with the Indians. Stick gives the reader many options as to which theory a person would want to believe.

As aforementioned, I learned that there was much planning when it came to executing this plan of settlement. I also learned that there was much more to this colony and to these people than the fact that they went "missing". There were families who relocated their lives to this new land as well as new families started on this land. Also, these British colonists had to learn to live a life different than that of their lives in England. They had to co-exist with Indians as well as live with the ultimate unknown; were there really black pearls to harvest up north, was there really gold in the mountains? These people had to acclimate to this new life. That is the largest piece of knowledge that I took from Stick and his book.