Nature's Lost Colony: Peace and Power in Roanoke, 1585-1590

This thesis explores the establishment and evolution of the English and Algonquian environmental cultures leading up to the Roanoke colonies in the 1580s. This thesis argues that differing conceptions of the relationship between humans and the natural environment were central to the power dynamics and contested relationships between the Algonquian population and English colonists in Ossomocomuck in the 1580s. Dealing with their own environmental settings and climates, the English and Algonquian populations in Ossomocomuck developed their own relationships with the environment, shaped by their different religious and economic systems. Over time, the English and Algonquian understandings of the environment became a way for both groups to express their conflicts and exert power over the other. Ultimately, this thesis argues that the interactions between the two groups helps us to envision how natural resources, the land itself, and the environmental culture of both groups impacted their struggle for power in Roanoke.Bachelor of Art