John White (colonist and artist)

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John White (c. 1539–c. 1606) was an English colonial governor, explorer, artist, and cartographer. White was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville in the first attempt to colonise Roanoke Island in 1585, acting as artist and mapmaker to the expedition. He would most famously briefly serve as the governor of the second attempt to found Roanoke Colony on the same island in 1587 and discover the colonists had mysteriously vanished. During his time at Roanoke Island, he made several watercolour sketches of the surrounding landscape and the native Algonquian peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative illustrations of a Native American society of the Eastern seaboard; all of the surviving original watercolours are now preserved in the print room of the British Museum. In 1587, White became governor of Sir Walter Raleigh's failed attempt at a permanent settlement on Roanoke Island, known to history as the "Lost Colony". This was the earliest effort to establish...

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