In 1584, Elizabeth I granted a charter to Sir Walter Raleigh, for whom the North Carolina state capital is named, for land in present-day North Carolina (then part of the territory of Virginia). This was the second American territory which the English attempted to colonize. Raleigh established two colonies on the coast in the late 1580s, but both failed. The fate of the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke Island remains one of the most widely debated mysteries of American history and they are still actively researching its history today. Virginia Dare, the first English child to be born in North America, was born on Roanoke Island on August 18, 1587; Dare County is named for her.
