When and why was Roanoke Island transferred from Virginia to North Carolina?

lanfranco

The Carolina territory, which included a certain portion of the formerly very large Virginian territory, was carved out sometime in the 1660's and handed over to a group of noblemen by Charles II, to repay them for their help with the Restoration. Roanoke Island, just off the coast of the new territory, would have been considered to belong to it. In 1712, North Carolina became a separate colony, and this is the likely date at which the island officially became part of NC. I must admit, however, that the sources are not very clear on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina Jan 16 06, 1:00 PM

gtho4

Further to the above: It was in the part of the United States which we now call North Carolina, you remember, that Sir Walter Raleigh tried to found a colony. That colony came to nothing, and the land which the white men had reclaimed from the wilderness returned once more to the wilderness. Nearly a hundred years went past before white men again appeared in that part of the country. In 1629 King Charles I granted all this region to Sir Robert Heath, but he made no attempt to colonise it. Then a few settlers from Virginia and New England and the Barbados, finding the land vacant and neglected, settled there. Meanwhile Charles II had come to the throne, and, wanting to reward eight of his friends who had been staunch to him during the Commonwealth, in 1663 he gave them all the land between latitude 30° and 36° and from sea to sea. Sir Robert Heath was by this time dead, and his heirs had done nothing with his great territory in America, but as soon as it was given to others they began to make a fuss. Charles II, however, said as Sir Robert had failed to plant a colony his claim no longer held good. So the eight new proprietors took possession of it. This tract of land had already been named Carolina by the Frenchman Ribaut in honour of Charles IX of France, and now the Englishmen who took possession of it kept the old name in honour of Charles II. http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/marshall/country/country-IV-42.html http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/marshall/country/country-IV-42.html Jan 16 06, 2:40 PM

gtho4

http:// www. 1629, Sir Robert Heath: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/heath.htm">http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/heath.htm 1663 charter: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/nc01.htm">http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/nc01.htm 1665 charter: http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/nc04.htm">http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/nc04.htm Jan 16 06, 2:41 PM

bloomsby

Many thanks to you both - and a yay each! :) Jan 16 06, 4:42 PM