People have considered the possibility that the missing colonists could have assimilated into nearby Native American tribes since at least 1605.
If this integration was successful, the assimilated colonists would gradually exhaust their European supplies (ammunition, clothing) and discard European culture (language, style of dress, agriculture) as Algonquian lifestyle became more convenient.
Colonial era Europeans observed that many people removed from European society by Native Americans for substantial periods of time—even if captured or enslaved—were reluctant to return; the reverse was seldom true.
Therefore, it is reasonable to postulate that, if the colonists were assimilated, they or their descendants would not seek reintegration with subsequent English settlers.

Most historians today believe this to be the most likely scenario for the surviving colonists' fate.
However, this leaves open the question of which tribe, or tribes, the colonists assimilated with.

It is widely accepted that the Croatan were ancestors of the 18th-century Hatteras, although evidence of this is circumstantial.
The present-day Roanoke-Hatteras tribe identifies as descendants of both the Croatan and the Lost Colonists by way of the Hatteras.

Some 17th-century maps use the word "Croatoan" to describe locations on the mainland, across Pamlico Sound from Roanoke and Hatteras.
By 1700, these areas were associated with the Machapunga.
Oral traditions and legends about the migration of the Croatan through the mainland are prevalent in eastern North Carolina.
For example, the "Legend of the Coharie" in Sampson County was transcribed by Edward M. Bullard in 1950.

More famously, in the 1880s, state legislator Hamilton McMillan proposed that the Native American community in Robeson County (then considered free people of color) retained surnames and linguistic characteristics from the 1587 colonists.
His efforts convinced the North Carolina legislature to confer tribal recognition to the community in 1885, with the new designation of "Croatan".
The tribe petitioned to be renamed in 1911, eventually settling on the name Lumbee in 1956.

Other tribes purportedly linked to the Roanoke colonists include the Catawba and the Coree.
Samuel A'Court Ashe was convinced that the colonists had relocated westward to the banks of the Chowan River in Bertie County, and Conway Whittle Sams claimed that after being attacked by Wanchese and Wahunsenacawh, they scattered to multiple locations: the Chowan River, and south to the Pamlico and Neuse Rivers.

Reports of encounters with pale-skinned, blond-haired people among various Native American tribes occur as early as 1607.
Although this is frequently attributed to assimilated Lost Colonists, it may be more easily explained by dramatically higher rates of albinism in Native Americans than in people of European descent.

In his book The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island published in June 2020, Scott Dawson relies heavily on the work of John White and Thomas Harriot to conclude the colonists joined the Croatoan people.
Dawson claims, "They were never lost.
It was made up.
The mystery is over."
People have considered the possibility that the missing colonists could have assimilated into nearby Native American tribes since at least 1605. If this integration was successful, the assimilated colonists would gradually exhaust their European supplies (ammunition, clothing) and discard European culture (language, style of dress, agriculture) as Algonquian lifestyle became more convenient. Colonial era Europeans observed that many people removed from European society by Native Americans for substantial periods of time—even if captured or enslaved—were reluctant to return; the reverse was seldom true. Therefore, it is reasonable to postulate that, if the colonists were assimilated, they or their descendants would not seek reintegration with subsequent English settlers.
Most historians today believe this to be the most likely scenario for the surviving colonists' fate. However, this leaves open the question of which tribe, or tribes, the colonists assimilated with.
It is widely accepted that the Croatan were ancestors of the 18th-century Hatteras, although evidence of this is circumstantial. The present-day Roanoke-Hatteras tribe identifies as descendants of both the Croatan and the Lost Colonists by way of the Hatteras.
Some 17th-century maps use the word "Croatoan" to describe locations on the mainland, across Pamlico Sound from Roanoke and Hatteras. By 1700, these areas were associated with the Machapunga. Oral traditions and legends about the migration of the Croatan through the mainland are prevalent in eastern North Carolina. For example, the "Legend of the Coharie" in Sampson County was transcribed by Edward M. Bullard in 1950.
More famously, in the 1880s, state legislator Hamilton McMillan proposed that the Native American community in Robeson County (then considered free people of color) retained surnames and linguistic characteristics from the 1587 colonists. His efforts convinced the North Carolina legislature to confer tribal recognition to the community in 1885, with the new designation of "Croatan". The tribe petitioned to be renamed in 1911, eventually settling on the name Lumbee in 1956.
Other tribes purportedly linked to the Roanoke colonists include the Catawba and the Coree. Samuel A'Court Ashe was convinced that the colonists had relocated westward to the banks of the Chowan River in Bertie County, and Conway Whittle Sams claimed that after being attacked by Wanchese and Wahunsenacawh, they scattered to multiple locations: the Chowan River, and south to the Pamlico and Neuse Rivers.
Reports of encounters with pale-skinned, blond-haired people among various Native American tribes occur as early as 1607. Although this is frequently attributed to assimilated Lost Colonists, it may be more easily explained by dramatically higher rates of albinism in Native Americans than in people of European descent.
In his book The Lost Colony and Hatteras Island published in June 2020, Scott Dawson relies heavily on the work of John White and Thomas Harriot to conclude the colonists joined the Croatoan people. Dawson claims, "They were never lost. It was made up. The mystery is over."
Roanoke Colony