Colonization of the North American coast might have evolved
differently if the English expedition sent to Roanoke Island by
Sir Walter Raleigh in the 1580s had established a lasting
foothold on the Outer Banks. When that colony was "lost,"
English attention turned to better harbors farther north,
postponing colonization between Chesapeake Bay and Spanish
Florida. Since nothing came of Charles I's grant of "Carolana"
to Sir Robert Heath in 1629, Charles II bestowed the same region
on some of his loyal supporters soon after the English
Restoration of 1660. During the early years of the
proprietorship, Sir John Colleton and George Monck, the Duke of
Albemarle, assumed the leadership of the venture, hoping
ultimately to profit from Carolina without bearing the actual
cost of its settlement. Their plan was to attract experienced
colonists from the older settlements into Carolina by the
promise of generous land grants and comparably liberal
concessions of religious and political rights. It was expected
that the col