Chief of Roanoke

Date1590-1600

Designer & engraver Theodor De Bry (1528 - 1598)

Primary Author Thomas Hariot (1560-1621)

Maker John White (fl. 1585 - 1593)

OriginEurope, Germany, Frankfurt

MediumLine engraving on laid paper with letterpress

DimensionsOverall: 13 3/8 × 9 1/4in. (34 × 23.5cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1983-286,7

DescriptionTop of the plate reads: "VI./ Die fürnemmesten der Inseln und/ Statt / so Roanoac genannt."
Lower part of the engraving reads: "T.B."
Label TextThis plate, which was engraved by Flemish engraver and publisher Theodore De Bry, depicts a Europeanized vision of Carolina Algonquians based on the watercolors by John White and using the written descriptions by Thomas Hariot. In 1590, De Bry published Hariot's text with engravings based on White's watercolors in a book entitled 'A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia' which was published in English, French, German, and Latin.1 The book provides the first printed English record of Sir Walter Ralegh’s attempts to plant a colony in the New World. Although described in the title as Virginia, it delineates the region between the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and Cape Lookout, North Carolina.2

The text accompanying this page is the German translation which describes the dress, appearance of the "Rulers" or chiefs of "Roanoac." The Latin and English translations describe this plate as the "A cheiff Lorde of Roanoac." Portions of the text read (this translation from the Latin edition): "The great men and rulers of the island and town of ROANOAC also have the hair on the top of the head clipped back in the shape of a crest, as the other men do. They grow the rest long, like the women, and gather it at the back of the head...But as a sign of their authority and preeminence, they hang round the neck a necklace consisting of thick pearls or copper beads, or smooth little bones, and a square copper tablet hanging on a string...Also they hold their arms folded crosswise while waling or carrying on a conversation with someone, which is a sign of wisdom." Hariot went on to add that Roanoke, where the English attempted to plant their first colony in North America, "...is truly a very pleasant island, and it abounds in fish because of the waters that surround it."3

In 1584, Queen Elizabeth I granted Sir Walter Ralegh a charter enabling him to settle an English colony in America. Ralegh promptly dispatched two ships under the leadership of Captains Arthur Barlowe and Philip Amadas, who were directed to reconnoiter the area above Spanish Florida. On a second trip to America led by Sir Richard Granville the following year, the colonists established their headquarters on Roanoke Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, naming the region Virginia. John White and Thomas Hariot were important members of the group.4 Although little is known of his background as an artist, White was sent to draw and record the geography, natives, and natural history of the area.5 Hariot's experience as a surveyor and writer complemented White's artistic renderings. Educated at Oxford University, Hariot was perhaps the most renowned English mathematician of his time. During the year the two spent at Roanoke Island fort, they gathered a substantial amount of information about the inhabitants, the flora and fauna, and the terrain.

1. Only the Latin and German editions went onto second and third editions, while the English and French translations were only published in 1590; see Peter Stallybrass, "Admiranda narratio: A European Best Seller," in A brief and true report of the new found land of Virginia, Thomas Hariot, The Theodore de Bry Latin Edition, Facsimile edition accompanied by the modernized English text (Published for the Library at the Mariner's Museum by the University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville and London, 2007), 9-30.
2. Margaret Beck Pritchard, and Henry G. Taliaferro, "Degrees of Latitude: Mapping Colonial America" (New York: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2002), no. 2.
3. A brief and true report of the new found land of Virginia, thomas Hariot, The Theodore de Bry Latin Edition, Facsimile edition accompanied by the modernized English text (Published for the Library at the Mariner's Museum by the University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville and London, 2007)
4. White appears to have made five voyages to the New World.
5. Hariot was to study the Algonquian language and Native American customs in addition to the geography and natural resources of the area. Cumming, Mapping the North Carolina Coast, (Raleigh, N. C., 1988), p. 51.