By Adam S. Eterovich
America was being colonized by the English in 1585-1590 at Croatoan-Roanoke on the Atlantic coast in the Carolinas. This was called the Lost Colony. Sir Walter Raleigh was given a Royal Charter to colonize. When the English returned in 1590 they found carved on a tree “Croatoan� and no colonists. Western historians state that Croatoan-Croatan is an Indian word. This was the first English attempt to colonize in America.
In 1588 the great Spanish Armada attacked England. It is estimated that at least fifteen percent of the war galleons and merchant fleet under Spanish flag were from Dalmatia, Croatia.
In 1588 the Pope, Sixtus V, was a Croatian and the Great Vizier or Prime Minister of the Turkish Empire, Siavus Pasha Hrvat (Hrvat means Croatian) was a Croatian. At that point in time these two individuals were the most powerful and influential men in all of Europe. Both were immigrants; one an "Italian", the other a "Turk".
A Croatian traveling west in Europe or to the New World from 1300-1700 could have been identified in documents as Hungarian, Venetian, Austrian, Turkish, Italian-Venetian, Schiavon, Slavonian, Illyrian, Dalmatian or from the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovnik).
In 2003 to state or assume that Croatians participated in discovery of new lands and were with Columbus would not be believed and probably questioned in many circles. The 1400's-1650's were in fact a golden age for Croatia disproportionate to her size in territory and population, considering the Ottoman Turk invasion and conquest of Croatia up to Croatian-Dalmatia and the Republic of Ragusa.
Previous, during and after the discovery of America, Croatians participated in mercantile and diplomatic activities in Spain, Portugal, England, France, Florence, Venice, Genoa and in India, America, Canada, Central and South America. Their presence in England at the time of colonization was neither accidental nor luck.
Voyages on the American Coast
In 1498 John Cabot, discoverer of North America, started on his second voyage and then coasted along the East shore of the American mainland to Cape Hatteras. Explorations of later date found pieces of a broken sword of Italian workmanship, and that two silver earrings of Venetian make had been seen upon a boy who was a native of the North-West country in America which might indicate the destruction of part of Cabot's fleet. Cabot's lawyer was a Dalmatian from Dubrovnik-Ragusa.
New Dalmatia
The New England Coast was first called New Dalmatia by explorer Verrazano in 1524. This had been written about by French, Italian and American historians. Verrazano mentions Sclavonia, Dalmatia and names four islands after Dalmatian islands. Isola Lunga is Dugi Otok or Long Island, New York. Verrazano discovered New York and may have lost ships off the Carolina coast.
San Blas-Saint Vlaho
Jean Alfonse in the Alfonse Voyages of the 1540's along the Atlantic coast comments on passing Cap S. Blas, not naming it, with a notation of northeast of Florida in beautiful country at the port of Chatelain which would be Charleston, South Carolina. S. Blas is Saint Vlaho or Sveti Vlaho in Croatian. Saint Vlaho is the Patron Saint of Dubrovnik in Croatia.
Levantine Mariners
In 1565 Menendez de Aviles, the new governor of Florida, wiped out a colony of French Huguenots trying to settle near present-day Jacksonville. The "Levantine" mariners aboard the Flagship rebelled and took the ship and disappeared. Navigation would dictate that the ship went north and could have crashed off of Hatteras. Levantine mariners were usually Dalmatian-Croatian Catholics. Spain would not allow on her ships Greek Orthodox or Moslems.
Sir Walter Raleigh and Nikola Gozi-Gucetich
Sir Walter Raleigh and Nikola Gozi-Gucetich held meetings in 1585 in London, prior to the voyage, with the admiral Lord Charles Howard of Effingham. Croatoan Island was first called My Lord Admirals Island in honor of Lord Howard of Effingham. Nikola Gozi-Gucetich of Dubrovnik was the second largest foreign banker in England. His nephew, Paolo Gondola-Gundulich, wrote letters to a friend in Florence from London of Drake and Raleigh in Virginia and other voyages. The Dalmatian-Croatian colony had a Fraternity in London. They probably were venture capitalists in a number of English voyages of exploration.
Croatian Place Names in North Carolina
Place names and names found in North Carolina associated with Croatia are: Croatamonge, Croatamung Island, Croatan Indians, Croatan Indian Park, Croatan National Forest, Croatan Sound, Croatan Township, Croatan Wildlife Area, Croatoan and Croatoan Island.
Croato an--Croat an
Croato-Croata-Croati is the Italian form of Croatia or Croatian. The Italian alphabet does not have a K. When a person is from a place such as Split, Dubrovnik, Ragusa, Zagreb, as examples ---- you can say he is a: Splitcan, Hvaran, Dubrovcan, Ragusan, Zagrebcan, Trogiran, Hercegovan. Croatia was not a country in the 1500s but a part of Venice, Austria, Hungary, Turkey or the Republic of Dubrovnik-Ragusa. One could say they were: Croatians, Croatans or Croatoan s. All historians and experts state that Croatoan is an Algonquin Indian name. Other experts state there is no CR or KR sound in the Algonquin language in that area.
Is Ottorasko-Hrvatsko (Croatia)?
Cape Hatteras: Place name variations included Hatarask, Hotoras, Hatorask, Hatorasck, Hatrask, Otterasco, 0ttorasko. Ottorasko was the earliest name given to this island south of Port Ferdinando with Croatoan southward from it again.
Melingi-Melingoi
The Melungeon, Lumbee, and Croatan groups in America claim to be a mixture of Indian and European mariners, liberated slaves, Lost Colonists, and remnants of Spanish and Portuguese settlements. There is considerable speculation as to the origin of the name Melungeon. The Melingi-Melingoi were Slavic groups in the Balkans that would have willingly served in Turkish fleets.
Turkish Slaves
Sir Frances Drake liberated hundreds of slaves in the Caribbean while plundering Spanish settlements. Drake brought material help to the Roanoke Colony and left the Turks and Moors and some European slaves at Roanoke. These liberated slaves far outnumbered the English Colonists; some left with Drake and were returned to Turkey. The Turkish slaves were captured in sea battles in the Mediterranean. Almost all Turkish admirals in the 1500’s were Croatian-Dalmatians. Bosnia-Hercegovina, one half of Croatia and parts of the Dalmatian coast, all part of the Croatian kingdom, were conquered by Turkey. Many Dalmatian mariners served in Turkish fleets; the second language at the Turkish Court for the military and marine was Croatian. Twenty two Great Viziers (Prime Ministers) of the Turkish Empire were Croatians.
Fish
At the Lost Colony, Ribuckon meant in Algonquin Indian a fishing place or fish; Cipo was mullet fish; Cante-Cante meant to sing and dance and Sat was time. There were many other similarities. Gray eyes and blondish hair amongst the Indians was noted for centuries. Gray eyes and light hair is found in Croatia in great numbers and not found in any other Mediterranean people.
Research should be done at Istanbul, Turkey to determine the names of those "Turks" returned by the English from the Lost Colony. DNA and blood testing is now being conducted, but is not considering Croatians or Croatia and Bosnia.
