For Manteo and Wanchese, destiny was geography

On this day in 1585: Manteo and Wanchese, the first American tourists to visit Europe, leave England in a ship of colonists bound for North Carolina. The two N.C. Indians were invited to London by explorers commissioned by Sir Walter Raleigh.

Manteo was made Lord of Roanoke while in England, but Wanchese was alienated by the Europeans and will be absorbed back into his tribe.

Manteo and Wanchese become the names of communities on opposite ends of Roanoke Island.

 

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