The Roanoke Colony was an attempted English colony. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to establish a colony at Roanoke, an island off the coast of present-day North Carolina. The colony was small, consisting of only 117 people, who seem to have alienated the native Croatan people. They struggled to survive. Their governor, John White, returned to England in late 1587 to secure more people and supplies. When he returned in 1590, only three years later, the entire colony had vanished. The only trace the colonists left behind was the word Croatoan carved into a fence surrounding the village.