How did the outer banks affect early settlements

English setters exhibited little enthusiasm for the outer banks after the failure of the lost colony, and for for a century, Europeans avoided the islands. The inlets and coves, combined with the outlying island's remoteness, attracted pirates and smugglers

The Outer Banks are a chain of barrier islands that skirt the coast of North Carolina from the Virginia border to Cape Lookout through Currituck, Dare, Hyde, and Carteret Counties. More than 175 miles long, they are separated as much as 30 miles from the mainland by a series of shallow sounds. Pamlico Sound, the largest sound on the East Coast of the United States (and some say the world's largest), is 80 miles long and 15 to 30 miles wide. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a part of the Outer Banks and drains into the Atlantic Ocean through Hatteras and Ocracoke Inlets. Albemarle Sound, the second largest (some 50 miles long and 5 to 14 miles wide), was named after George Monck, duke of Albemarle, one of the Lords Proprietors of the Carolina colony. The state's first permanent settlements were made along its northern shore. Other North Carolina sounds include Core Sound, Croatan Sound, Currituck Sound, and Roanoke Sound.