Thus, courtship is the visible part of a complex series of events whereby the males and females come together for mating. The continuation of pair-bonding after mating is common in birds and mammals because the survival of their genes depends on the fertilized eggs reaching maturity. If that requires support from "both" parents, the rituals are the way the pair keep connected. Established pairs, even in the Great Crested Grebe, will live as singles (often in a large group) outside the mating season.
Roanoke Colony
The Roanoke Colony was a British colony in North America that disappeared mysteriously. It is called the "Lost Colony." It was on Roanoke Island in what is today Dare County, North Carolina, in the United States. It was started in 1585 by Sir Walter Raleigh. It disappeared sometime between 1587 and 1590. Today, nobody knows what happened to the people who were living there.
On 25 March 1584, Queen Elizabeth gave Sir Walter Raleigh a charter to start a colony in North America. A "charter" is a document which gives permission from a monarch to the holder. Raleigh's charter said he could start a colony in a part of North America called "Virginia". It also said that if he did not start the colony, Raleigh would not be able to start any other colonies ever again.
Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth hoped that the colony would be rich. They wanted it to be a base for privateering. "Privateers" are pirates who work for the government to attack ships from other countries. The English privateers from the colony would attack the Spanish ships that were carrying treasure across the Atlantic Ocean to Spain.
Raleigh sent some ships to explore North America in 1584. On 27 April 1584, Phillip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe sailed to the Eastern coast of North America. They landed on Roanoke Island on 4 July 1584. On the island they met some of the Native American people living there. The tribes they met were the Secotans and the Croatans. Barlowe took two Croatans back to England with him. They were Manteo and the chief, Wanchese. Manteo and Wanchese told Raleigh about Roanoke Island and the politics of the local tribes. Raleigh decided to send more ships back to the Island to learn more. This new expedition (trip) was led by Sir Richard Grenville.
Grenville took five ships to Roanoke: the "Tiger", "Roebuck", "Red Lion", "Elizabeth", and "Dorothy". They left from Plymouth on 9 April 1585. There was a big storm that made the "Tiger" get separated from the other ships. The captains of the ships had a plan that if the ships got separated, they would all go to Puerto Rico to meet up again. The "Tiger" arrived at the "Baye of Muskito" (Guayanilla Bay) on 11 May 1585.
Grenville and the "Tiger" waited in Puerto Rico for the other ships. While they were waiting, Grenville built a fort called Fort Elizabeth. He also did some privateering from there against the Spanish. One of the other ships, the "Elizbeth", arrived in Puerto Rico right after Fort Elizabeth was built. Grenville soon got tired of waiting for the other ships. On 7 June 1585 he left Puerto Rico and abandoned the fort. Nobody knows what happened to the fort, or where exactly it was.
The "Tiger" arrived at the Outer Banks on 26 June 1585. (The Outer Banks are islands on the coast of the Carolinas in North America. Roanoke Island is part of the Outer Banks.) The "Tiger" hit a shoal in Ocracoke Inlet. This damaged the ship and most of their food was ruined. They fixed the ship and met up with the "Roebuck" and the "Dorothy". The other ships had arrived at the islands a few weeks before. The "Red Lion" also arrived at the Outer Banks, but it dropped off its passengers and went to Newfoundland for privateering.
The English explored some of the coast and the Native American settlements there. One of the villages they visited was called Aquascogoc. The English blamed the natives of Aquascogoc for stealing a silver cup. They destroyed the village and burned it to the ground as punishment. Aquascogoc was a village of the Croatan tribe.
Genville decided to leave some men to start a colony at the north end of Roanoke Island. He did this even though they did not have a lot of food and the Croatans were angry about Aquascogoc. Ralph Lane and 107 men were left on Roanoke Island. Grenville promised to return in April 1586 with more men and supplies. Lane and his men left for Roanoke on 17 August 1585. Lane built a small fort on Roanoke Island and explored some of the area. There are no pictures of the Roanoke fort. It was probably a lot like Fort Elizabeth on Guayanilla Bay, Puerto Rico.
Grenville did not return in April 1586. The Croatans were angry because the English had destroyed Aquascogoc, so they attacked the fort. The colonists were able to repel the attackers. (This means that the Croatan warriors didn't win the fight.) Soon after this attack, Sir Francis Drake stopped by the fort on his way back to England. The colonists agreed to go back to England with Drake. They brought with them tobacco, maize, and potatoes to Europe for the first time.
A little while after Drake left with the colonists, Grenville's ships arrived at the fort. When they got there, the fort was abandoned. Grenville decided to take his men back to England. A small number of men stayed behind to run the fort.
Sir Walter Raleigh sent 150 people to start a colony in 1587. A man named John White was in charge of the colony. John White was an artist and a friend of Raleigh. He had gone to Roanoke with Barlowe and Grenville. Raleigh told them to start a colony on the Chesapeake Bay. On the way, they were going to stop at the Roanoke fort to pick up Grenville's men and take them to the new colony.
White's ships landed at Roanoke on 22 July 1587. They did not find any of Grenville's men at the base of the old fort. All they found was one skeleton that might have been the body of one of the Englishmen. The commander of the fleet (group of ships), Simon Fernandez, would not let the colonists get back on the ships. He said they had to start the new colony on Roanoke Island. Nobody knows exactly why he did this.
White tried to talk to the Croatans and make peace with them. The Croatans were the same tribes that Ralph Lane and his men had fought against the year before. The Croatans would not talk to White. They killed a colonist named George Howe. Howe was looking for crabs in the Albemarle Sound when he was killed.
The colonists were scared. They asked Governor White to go back to England and get help. White agreed to go. He left behind 115 colonists at Roanoke. 114 colonists had come from England with White. The last colonist was Virginia Dare. Virginia was the first English child ever born in the Americas. She was also John White's granddaughter.
Governor White left the colony in late 1587. The ship barely made it back to England. It was very dangerous to cross the Atlantic Ocean in the winter. There were bad storms and lots of heavy wind. White wanted to return to Roanoke fast with help. The captain said he would not go back during the winter because it was too dangerous. At the same time, the Spanish Armada was sailing to attack England. All English ships were sent to fight the Spanish, so there were no ships for White to sail back to Roanoke.
White found two small ships that were not being used to defend England against the Spanish Armada. He hired the ships to sail to Roanoke. They set sail in the spring of 1588. The captains of the ships were greedy. They tried to attack some Spanish ships to steal their cargo. ("Cargo" is things being carried by a ship. Cargo can be food, supplies, money, or treasure.) The Spanish ships fought White's ships and won. The Spanish took all of White's cargo. White's ships turned around and sailed back to England because they had nothing to take to the colony.