death_date imagesize nationality birth_date article_title name occupation
1620 120px english 1550 arthur barlowe
 arthur barlowe explorer
arthur barlowe

arthur barlowe was one of two british captains -lrb- the other was philip amadas -rrb- who , under the direction of sir walter raleigh , left england in 1584 to find land in north america to claim for queen elizabeth i of england .
his account survives in a letter written to raleigh as a report on their journey .
it is one of the earliest detailed english commercial reports written from direct observation about any place in north america and has been called `` one of the clearest contemporary pictures of the contact of europeans with north american indians . ''
barlowe and philip amadas departed england with two ships on april 27th , sailing down to the canary islands and then on to the west indies , where they stopped briefly for food and water before sailing north along the eastern coast of florida .
after eleven days they came to shallow water and smelled `` so sweet , and so strong a smell , as if we had been in the midst of some delicate garden , '' indicating that land was nearby .
two days later -lrb- july 4th -rrb- , they saw the coast and continued to sail for 120 miles until they could find an entrance or river going in from the sea .
they finally landed on the outer banks of what is now the pamlico sound of north carolina .
barlow described the land as a place where `` in all the world the like abundance is not to be found ... '' he and his crew were met by a large group of the secotan tribe , led by their king , wingina .
several of the natives accompanied them as they sailed north to roanoke island .
there they found a secotan village , where , according to barlowe , they were treated with great hospitality and generosity .
barlowe described the people of the village as `` gentle , loving and faithful , void of all guile and treason , and such as live after the manner of the golden age . ''
the discovery of roanoke island and the coast of north carolina led to the establishment of the roanoke colony .
this colony at roanoke island would later be known as the `` lost colony , '' whose members are presumed to have either starved to death or been incorporated into one of the local native american indian populations .
