Before the English came, about 30 Native American groups lived in North Carolina. In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh started two colonies in what is now known as North Carolina, but they did not last long. One of these, the Roanoke Colony later became known as the "Lost Colony" and is still known as one of the great unsolved mysteries of early American history to this day. Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the America, was born in the Roanoke Colony.