| 1584 | April-July | Walter Raleigh funds an expeditionary voyage from Plymouth to America to investigate whether it would be possible to set up a colony. |
| | 13 July | The ships land. The officers meet the brother of the chieftain of Roanoke Island. |
| | September | The company returns to England. They take back several items, including skins and pearls. They also take back two Amerindians called Manteo and Wanchese. This generates interest and support for another expedition. |
| 1585 | 9 April | Five ships and two pinnaces carrying the first settlers set sail from Plymouth. The expedition is led by Sir Richard Grenville. |
| | 26 June | The company lands in America and spends the next month searching for a suitable place to establish a settlement. |
| | End of July | A colony is established on Roanoke Island. Ralph Lane is made Governor. |
| | Summer | Relations with the Amerindians are good and the settlers receive a lot of help from them. |
| | | Grenville leaves the settlement and returns to England for supplies. |
| | Autumn and winter | Relations with the Amerindians start to deteriorate. The Amerindians no longer help supply the colony with food and the settlement is attacked. |
| | | Grenville arrives back in England but his return with supplies is delayed. |
| 1586 | Winter and spring | Food is scarce. Lane sends parties to the coast and to the mainland to live on shellfish and to look for any ships. |
| | January | Elizabeth I agrees to the naming of the new land as Virginia. She knights Raleigh, making him ‘Lord and Governor of Virginia’. |
| | June | A fleet of 23 ships led by Sir Francis Drake is spotted off the coast. Drake offers to give Lane and the settlers fresh supplies and a number of ships or passage back to England. Lane initially accepts the first offer. However, a storm blows many ships out to sea. The settlers decide to return to England. |
| | August | A relief ship sent by Raleigh arrives at Roanoke. It finds the settlement deserted and returns to England. |
| | | Three ships, led by Grenville, arrive in Virginia. They search for the settlers. Grenville leaves behind 15 men and enough supplies to last two years. Nobody knows what happened to these men. |
| 1587 | | Sir Walter Raleigh organises another expedition. This time, women and children are allowed to make the voyage. |
| | 8 May | The expedition sets off from Plymouth. |
| | 22-25 July | The ships arrive at Roanoke. They discover that the fort has been destroyed. Relations with the native Amerindians are not very friendly. |
| | August | A group of friendly Croatoan Amerindians accuse the Roanoke Amerindians of killing the 15 men left by Grenville. The settlers decide to get revenge by attacking the town of Dasamonquepeuc. However, the Roanoke Indians have fled and it is the Croatoans who are attacked. |
| | 18 August | The first child of English parents is born in the settlement. The baby girl is called ‘Virginia’. |
| | 27 August | Governor White sets sail for England to obtain more supplies. |
| | | Nobody knows what happened to the colony after this date. |
| 1590 | 20 March | The threat of the Spanish Armada and continuing hostilities with the Spanish means that White is not able to organise a return journey until now. |
| | August | The supply ships reach Hatoraske, a harbour near Roanoke, and start to look for the settlers. |
| | | At Roanoke, the party finds the word CROATOAN carved on a tree. White decides that the settlers must have moved to Croatoan. He also decides that they must not have been in any danger as there was no cross carved near the name – the sign that White had agreed with the settlers before he left. |
| | | White tries to get to Croatoan but bad weather forces him to abandon the mission. |
| 1592 | | Sir Walter Raleigh is imprisoned for marrying without the Queen’s permission. |
| 1602 | | Raleigh sends a final expedition to try to establish a colony at Roanoke. It fails and the settlers return to England. |
| 1607 | | The first successful colony at Jamestown is established. |
