| Title | Manteo |
| Origtitle | An aged manne in his winter garment |
| Caption | This is like what Manteo must have looked. |
| Source | virtualjamestown.org |
| Date | 1590 |
| URL | ttp://www.virtualjamestown.org/images/white_debry_html/debry33.html |
| Creator | Theodor DeBry |
| Type | Engraving |
| Copyright | British Museum |
| Origin | Internet |
Manteo / Manteo / Manteo / Manteo / Manteo / Manteo / Manteo / Manteo / Manteo / Manteo / Manteo
Alternate Spelling Occurrences Additional Notes
Manteo (fl. 1584-1587): ; Manteo was an Algonquian Indian from the coastal area surrounding Roanoke Island who acted as interpreter, guide and negotiator for several successive English colonial ventures to the New World, and who was held in high regard by the English colonists. Evidently a member of the leading family in Croatan tribe, Manteo was one of two Algonquians (the other being Wanchese) brought back to England from the area surrounding Roanoke Island by Phlip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, out on Raleigh’s 1584 reconnaissance party to the New World. It is thought that Manteo and Wanchese, rather than being kidnapped or tricked into coming to England, actually were intentionally sent to England in order to gather intelligence so that the Algonquian’s might better deal with them. In London, the two Algonquians were taught English by Thmas Harriot, and taught him a bit of their own language. Manteo and Wanchese both returned to the Americas in 1585, accompanying Sir Richard Grenville on his voyage in the Tiger through the Caribbean and finally reaching Wokokon (modern Ocracoke Island). Once back in North America, Manteo acted as interpreter and guide for the colonists, managing to smooth over several troubling situations between the colonists and the local Algonquians on numerous occasions, and came back with them to England in 1586, of his own free will, only to return to the New World again with the 1587 Roanoke Voyage under John White. Manteo was baptized during this time, and when White returned to England to petition for aid in 1587 he left the “Lost Colony” under the care of Manteo. When White finally returned to the Roanoke Island settlement site in 1590 the word “Croatan” was carved into a tree, indicating that the colonists were safe and had gone with Manteo to his tribe. ;
Works Cited:; Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, ed. William S. Powell. (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1991), s.v. “Manteo.”;