In April 1586, Queen Elizabeth I acquired a new and exotic title from a Native American tribe who had made her their weroanza, or "big chief." When a supply ship arrived at the Roanoke colony a few years later, however, the queen's settlers had vanished. While speculating on the fate of the lost colony, the author of Nathaniel's Nutmeg also reveals how Manteo—a native hoping to reconcile his people with the English—unwittingly contributed to the conflict between Powhatan and the Jamestown settlers, hastening the downfall of his people.