translated and learned the Carolina Algonquian language from Wanchese and Manteo. In 1584
Sir Walter Raleigh had dispatched the first of a number of expeditions to
Roanoke Island to explore and eventually settle the New World. Early encounters with the natives were friendly, and, despite the difficulties in communication, the explorers were able to persuade "two of the savages, being men, whose names were
Wanchese and
Manteo" to accompany them on the return voyage to London, in order for the English people to report both the conditions of the
New World that they had explored and what the usefulness of the territory might be to the English. Once safely delivered to England, the two Indians quickly made a sensation at court. Raleigh's priority, however, was not publicity but rather intelligence about his new land of Virginia. He restricted access to the exotic newcomers, assigning the scientist
Thomas Harriot the job of deciphering and learning the Carolina Algonquian language, using a
phonetic alphabet of his own invention in order to effect the translation. ==See also==