AHC: Surviving Roanoke colony

How could this small lost colony survive? and would it change the history of the United States or it would lose relevance during the following centuries?
 
It was officially the Citte (City) of Raleigh in Virginia, which might clue in on its history-to-be.

It's essentially Virginia, just twenty years earlier and under a proprietor (Walter Raleigh). The loss of Roanoke in OTL hurt his finances, while here it's more spread out but possibly more damaging in the long run for him to keep resupplying and resupplying it. Indeed, Roanoke's failure damaging his money matters so much helped develop the concept of the joint-stock company.

He got beheaded in 1618, and in OTL the Virginia Company sold it to the Crown in 1624 due to loss of profits, so I have a distinct feeling the same history as in OTL is played out in slightly different circumstances - the Crown takes the colony over from our headless hero and the joint-stock company idea develops anyway due to seeing what a drag it did to ole' Walt.

How would it survive? Well, plans were to re-locate it about 100 miles north, which would place it more or less where OTL Norfolk is (NOT Jamestown or Williamsburg - this is important), and since Norfolk as a metropolis exists in OTL, 'Roanoke/Raleigh' City would probably live on as a major city. For economics, Raleigh helped popularize tobacco - so assuming the same people who settled Jamestown merely settle on the other side of Hampton Roads while history otherwise plays the same for them, tobacco will finally give Walter some breathing room (and save the colony). Jefferson will still relocate the capital to Richmond in 1780 due to 'Roanoke/Raleigh''s coastal location, but if Norfolk survived the OTL 1775 Burning, it'll bounce back from the capital move as well because it's such an excellent port and shipyard (and it just got BURNED, it really can't get worse than that). Which means the literal First City of America is still a major burg, which means the southern USA has a city with as strong a sense of history and culture as Boston has for New England and the North-in-general, which could have a fun effect of historical perspectives for the country.
 
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It was officially the Citte (City) of Raleigh in Virginia, which might clue in on its history-to-be.

It's essentially Virginia, just twenty years earlier and under a proprietor (Walter Raleigh). The loss of Roanoke in OTL hurt his finances, while here it's more spread out but possibly more damaging in the long run for him to keep resupplying and resupplying it. Indeed, Roanoke's failure damaging his money matters so much helped develop the concept of the joint-stock company.

He got beheaded in 1618, and in OTL the Virginia Company sold it to the Crown in 1624 due to loss of profits, so I have a distinct feeling the same history as in OTL is played out in slightly different circumstances - the Crown takes the colony over from our headless hero and the joint-stock company idea develops anyway due to seeing what a drag it did to ole' Walt.

How would it survive? Well, plans were to re-locate it about 100 miles north, which would place it more or less where OTL Norfolk is (NOT Jamestown or Williamsburg - this is important), and since Norfolk as a metropolis exists in OTL, 'Roanoke/Raleigh' City would probably live on as a major city. For economics, Raleigh helped popularize tobacco - so assuming the same people who settled Jamestown merely settle on the other side of Hampton Roads while history otherwise plays the same for them, tobacco will finally give Walter some breathing room (and save the colony). Jefferson will still relocate the capital to Richmond in 1780 due to 'Roanoke/Raleigh''s coastal location, but if Norfolk survived the OTL 1775 Burning, it'll bounce back from the capital move as well because it's such an excellent port and shipyard (and it just got BURNED, it really can't get worse than that). Which means the literal First City of America is still a major burg, which means the southern USA has a city with as strong a sense of history and culture as Boston has for New England and the North-in-general, which could have a fun effect of historical perspectives for the country.

Would it be a bigger city than Norfolk on OTL is? I would assume that it could probably reach the sizes of some of the northern cities, if immigrants to Virginia decide to set up shop there.
 
Would it be a bigger city than Norfolk on OTL is? I would assume that it could probably reach the sizes of some of the northern cities, if immigrants to Virginia decide to set up shop there.

I'd assume so simply from the sheer weight of time, inertia, and being an excellent port city. Virginia was always closest to the urban northern colonies outside of Maryland and having such a direct and easy port will only help population and wealth. Witness Baltimore becoming the ninth-largest city of America in 1775 from a founding only forty-five years earlier (1729) and staying on the map in national importance ever since.
 
One of the major problems a surviving Roanoke colony would face would be the surround terrain. The island itself was extremely marshy, as was the land on the mainland across the Albemarle Sound. This alone would present a severe limitation to food production and therefore population. Furthermore, the Sound itself is very shallow and tidal and would really be more of a hindrance to travel than a help. Jamestown's position, though itself poor, was much more conducive to further large-scale colonization than Roanoke Island. Just look at the historical importance of the closest city, Williamsburg.
 
Firstly, how would it survive? Simply better luck, that's all it needed, better winds and the like.

Here's a timeline of events:
  • June 1585 Grenville's 4 ships begin Gathering off the Carolina/Virginia Coast
  • August 1585 107 colonists are left at Roanoke
  • May 1586 Francis Drake arrives and with no supplies to spare takes the colonists back to England (they had survived for 9 months without external help)
  • May 1586 Grenville's relief 'fleet' arrives days after Drake and finds the colony abandoned, he leaves 15 men as a garrison for the fort
  • July 1587 A colony of 115 is left at Roanoke, there is little sign of the garrison Grenville left 13 months earlier
  • Late 1587 Governor White leaves for England to seek assistance for the colony, in October 1587 he lands in the west of Ireland
  • April 1588 The Roe and Brave set out for Virginia with supplies and 15 colonists including the wives of some of the 1587 colonists, but engage in piracy and lose so head back to England.
  • March 1590 White heads for Virginia with 2 ships, but after much piracy doesn't arrive until August, finding the colony abandoned in good order.
So swapping the order of some of that stuff, like having Grenville's relief fleet arrive with supplies before Drake arrives would drastically alter the timeline of events.

I don't know of Roanoke colony would have become a major city, but if it wasn't taken off by Drake in 1585 it would be a major driver of North American settlement.
 
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