Roanoke Island, island, eastern North Carolina, in Dare County, in Croatan Sound. Principal industries are fishing and tourism. Expeditions sent out by the English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh twice attempted to establish colonies on Roanoke Island, once in 1585 and then again in 1587. The first English child born in the New World, Virginia Dare, was born here in August 1587. Her grandfather, English cartographer John White, was one of the leaders of the colony. He went back to England in 1587 for supplies, but when he returned to the island in 1590, he found it deserted. The fate of the colonists was never established, although several theories have been advanced (see Croatan). The excavated remains of the colonists' fort are part of the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.