<P> The Roanoke Colony was the first English colony in the New World . It was founded at Roanoke Island in what was then Virginia, now part of Dare County, North Carolina . Between 1584 and 1587, there were two major groups of settlers sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh who attempted to establish a permanent settlement at Roanoke Island, and each failed . The final group disappeared completely after supplies from England were delayed three years by a war with Spain . Because they disappeared, they were called "The Lost Colony ." </P> <P> The name Virginia came from information gathered by the Raleigh - sponsored English explorations along what is now the North Carolina coast . Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe reported that a regional "king" named Wingina ruled a land of Wingandacoa . Queen Elizabeth modified the name to "Virginia", perhaps in part noting her status as the "Virgin Queen ." Though the word is latinate, it stands as the oldest English language place - name in the United States . </P> <P> On the second voyage, Raleigh discovered that, while the chief of the Secotans was indeed called Wingina, the expression wingandacoa, heard by the English upon arrival, actually meant "You wear good clothes" in Carolina Algonquian, and was not the native name of the country, as previously misunderstood . </P> <P> After the death of Queen Elizabeth I, in 1603 King James I assumed the throne of England . After years of war, England was strapped for funds, so he granted responsibility for England's New World colonization to the Virginia Company, which became incorporated as a joint stock company by a proprietary charter drawn up in 1606 . There were two competing branches of the Virginia Company and each hoped to establish a colony in Virginia in order to exploit gold (which the region did not actually have), to establish a base of support for English privateering against Spanish ships, and to spread Protestantism to the New World in competition with Spain's spread of Catholicism . Within the Virginia Company, the Plymouth Company branch was assigned a northern portion of the area known as Virginia, and the London Company area to the south . </P>

Which of the following events in virginia's history is associated with the year 1612