Introduction

Part I. The Raleigh years. Setting the stage : 1496-1586

Planning the Cittie of Ralegh : July 27, 1586-July 22, 1587

Simon Fernandez and the aborted Chesapeake plan : July 22-August 27, 1587

Decisions at Roanoke : August 28-September 30, 1587

The colonists select a mainland settlement site : October-November 1587

Pivotal events in England and Virginia : January-June 1588

The legend of the CORA tree and the outpost at Croatoan : July-September 1588

A critical gamble at sea : September 1588-August 1589

The great hurricane and the final collapse of the colony : September 1589

The "legend of the coharie" and the hurricane's aftermath : October 1589-January 1590

John White's final voyage; Roanoke and Croatoan abandoned : February-October 1590

Raleigh and Guiana; rumors of survivors : 1594-1606

Part II. The Jamestown intelligence. John Smith's A true relation and the "Zúñiga Map" : 1607-1608

The "men cloathed" at Ocanahonan and Pakrakanick : 1607-1608

The "men apparalled" at Pananiock/Panawicke : 1607-1608

John Smith and the Powhatan-slaughter myth : 1608-1609

The Francisco Fernández de Écija reconnaissance : 1609

William Strachey and the "slaughter at Roanoke" : 1609-1611

The "slaughter at Roanoke" solved : 1610-1611

Lost Colony clues and Powhatan oral tradition : 1611-1612

Part III. Lost Colony survivors and descendants. Survival possibilities : 1612-1711

The search for descendants : 18th century and beyond

Summation.