5 of the World’s Most Devastating Financial Crises

The Lost Colony of Roanoke

The disappearance of some 100 settlers from their colony on Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina) in the late 1580s remains an unsolved—and still compelling—mystery embedded in American history. The colony was established by Gov. John White, who promptly returned to England to fetch supplies. By the time he returned in 1590, the settlement and all its people were gone. The only trace was the word “CROATOAN” carved on a fencepost and “CRO” on a tree. Croatoan was the name of the Native American tribe that lived on Roanoke as well as the name of present-day Hatteras Island. Several theories arose and archaeological exploration continues, but nothing definitive has surfaced about the settlers’ disappearance.

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  Solomon Northup
  

Solomon Northup: image from Twelve Years a Slave (1853)
Portrait of Solomon Northup printed in his memoir of slavery, Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River in Louisiana (1853).
From Twelve years a slave Narrative of Solomon Northup, a citizen of New-York, kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and rescued in 1853, from a cotton plantation near the Red River, in Louisiana; Derby and Miller (Auburn, Buffalo; 1853)
Solomon Northup’s is a story of tremendous misfortune and resilience. Though he was born a free person in New York about 1808, Northup was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. He was owned by a series of sadistic masters until he was able to find a way to send letters to his family in 1852. His freedom was legally reinstated in 1853, and Northup went on to cowrite a memoir—Twelve Years a Slave—that sold like hotcakes. He became a national celebrity and lectured throughout the country. His kidnappers were eventually indicted, but the charges were dismissed in 1857. Northup then promptly retreated from the public eye. It is likely that he joined the Underground Railroad, but the date and circumstances of his death are unknown.

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