In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh had dispatched the first of a number of expeditions to Roanoke Island to explore and eventually settle the New World.

Early encounters with the natives were friendly, and, despite the difficulties in communication, the explorers were able to persuade "two of the savages, being lustie men, whose names were Wanchese and Manteo" to accompany them on the return voyage to London,[2] in order for the English people to report both the conditions of the New World that they had explored and what the usefulness of the territory might be to the English.

Raleigh's priority, however, was not publicity but rather intelligence about his new land of Virginia, and he restricted access to the exotic newcomers, assigning the brilliant scientist Thomas Harriot the job of deciphering and learning the Carolina Algonquian language,[5] using a phonetic alphabet of his own invention in order to effect the translation.

However, a number of Eastern Algonquian loan words have survived by being absorbed into the English language.

Among them are: moccasin, moose, opossum, papoose, pecan, raccoon, skunk, squash, squaw, and wigwam.