What happened to the English Roanoke colony?

Roanoke is highlighted on the map above.

In his works, John Smith mentioned the earlier English attempt at settling the New World. The colony of Roanoke is also know as The Lost Colony. Unfortunately, historians have failed to agree upon solid evidence that would explain exactly what happened to the first English settlers. The facts that we do have are interesting, and there are many theories to this baffling event.

A famous English mogul and explorer by the title of Sir Walter Raleigh funded the expedition after receiving permission from Queen Elizabeth I. She gave him a ten year deadline to build up a suitable base in the New World for the English navy. This would be very helpful to England in their constant conflicts with Spain and a safe-haven to English pirates. The first attempt in founding Roanoke in 1584 failed with the settlers being malnourished, when Raleigh happened to drop by and find them in this condition. He decided to take them back to England, but left fifteen of his men to guard the settlement. (http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4245)

When the better provisioned second wave of Englishmen arrived in Roanoke, there was no sign of the fifteen men. John White was appointed governor of Roanoke, and his wife bore a daughter by the name of Virginia Dare. She was the first English child to be born in North America. Thanks to the previous settlers causing hostility with the natives, White and the colonists of Roanoke found themselves involved in numerous skirmishes with the natives on the island. Being outnumbered and fearing for their lives, White and a few select men returned to England in 1587 to ask Raleigh for help. The conflict between England and Spain complicated matters, and White was not able to return to Roanoke until 1590. Upon their return, they discovered only small cannons, an opened chest, and a single word carved into a fence post, "Croatoan." Further attempts at settlement of the colony were immediately abandoned. (http://www.jhu.edu/jhumag/1101web/roanoke.html)

There are many theories to what happened. Only two seem to be probable, but there isn't any evidence that completely throw the others out the window. Some people believe the colonists simply left the colony. Hurricane theories were disregarded, because the fence post surrounding the settlement had been unharmed. Maybe the people were all killed by the Natives. This is a very valid theory, especially when considering the unfriendly relations between the two groups. One theory states, however, that the colonists actually decided to live with the natives. Only time will tell if anyone discovers the actual truth of the event. (http://theshadowlands.net/roanoke.htm)

Below is a video of the longest-running outdoor symphonic drama in the world, The Lost Colony. Has been annually performed for seventy-five years, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning  Paul Green. There is also a photo of Sir Walter Raleigh.