Croatoan - Definition and Overview

"Croatoan" was the single word found carved on a tree on Roanoke Island, located in the Outer Banks off North Carolina by Governor John White. He had left the island to bring provisions for the new colony there, which had run out of food. He was delayed by a war, and when he returned to the Roanoke Colony from England in 1590, he discovered all the colonists gone.

White thought it meant that the settlers had moved to Croatoan Island some 50 miles (80 km) away, but his subsequent searches there failed to find any trace of the missing colonists. They were never found.