Fort Caroline

Fort Caroline National Memorial
Location:	Florida , United States
Specialty:	First French colony in what is now the United States
Next city:	Jacksonville
Surface:	0.6 km²
Founding:	January 16, 1953
Visitors:	224,100 (2006)
	Fort Caroline, based on a depiction by Theodor de Bry , 1617
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Fort Caroline was the first French colony in what is now the United States . Founded in the area of what is now Jacksonville , Florida in 1564, Fort Caroline existed only a year before it was wiped out by the Spanish .

history

A French expedition, organized by the Huguenot religious leader Admiral Gaspard de Châtillon and led by the navigator Jean Ribault , landed on the banks of the Mai River (now St. Johns River ) in February 1562 before advancing north to Port Royal Sound . There, on what is now Parris Island, Ribault left 28 men behind to build a settlement known as Charlesfort . Ribault then returned to Europe to organize support for the new colony, but was arrested in England because of difficulties arising from the Huguenot Wars .

Without supplies or guidance and hostile to the indigenous population, all colonists sailed back to Europe after only one year, only one man remained. While traveling in an open boat, they had to resort to cannibalism before being rescued in English waters. Meanwhile, René Goulaine de Laudonnière , who had been Ribault's deputy, brought a contingent of about 200 new settlers to Florida, where they founded Fort Caroline (or Fort de la Caroline ) on the cliff above the St. Johns River on June 22, 1564 . The fort was named after the ruling French king, Charles IX . Starvation, Indian attacks and mutiny plagued this settlement for a year before it caught the attention of the Spanish authorities, who viewed it as a challenge to their control of the area.

In June 1565, Ribault was released from English custody and Coligny sent him back to Florida. Ribault arrived in the colony with a large fleet and hundreds of soldiers and settlers in late August and took command. The Spanish governor of Florida, Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés , who had recently taken office , was given the task of removing the French outpost almost at the same time and reached the area only a few days after Ribault's landing. After a brief skirmish between the ships of Ribault and those of Menéndez, the latter retreated 56 kilometers south, where he founded the settlement of St. Augustine . Ribault pursued the Spaniards with some of his ships and most of his troops, but at sea he was caught by a severe storm that lasted for several days. In a bold blow Menéndez marched with his troops across the country and launched a surprise attack on Fort Caroline, which was occupied by only 200 to 250 people. The only survivors were about fifty women and children who were captured, as well as some defense lawyers, including Laudonnière, who managed to escape, the rest were executed.

Ribault's fleet fared no better: all of its ships either sank or ran aground in the storm south of St. Augustine, and many of the French were killed. Most of the remainder were later captured along the coast, including Ribault, and executed by Menéndez's forces in a location now known as Matanzas ("Massacre") Inlet. A fort ( Fort Matanzas ), which was built much later, is located here today . The massacre put an end to the French attempts to colonize the North American east coast.

The Spaniards destroyed Fort Caroline and built their own fort in its place. In April 1568, Dominique de Gourgues led a French force that attacked and destroyed the Spanish fort. The Spaniards rebuilt it, but only used it for one year. The exact location of the settlement is not known.

Rebuilding

Fort Caroline was approved as a National Memorial- Type Memorial by the United States Congress on September 21, 1950 and dedicated on January 16, 1953. The site includes a smaller-scale reconstruction of the fort and a visitor center. Like all historic areas administered by the National Park Service , the site was registered as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966 .

Web links

Commons : Fort Caroline National Memorial - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files

National Park Service: Fort Caroline National Memorial (official site; English)
Fort Caroline on an engraving by Jacques Le Moyne
Les expéditions françaises en Floride (1562-1568) - French treatise by Hélène LHOUMEAU

Individual evidence

^ Fort Caroline National Memorial in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed August 7, 2017.

[1] Fort Caroline National Memorial in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed August 7, 2017.