Fort Caroline

Fort Caroline was the first French colony in the present-day United States. Established in what is now Jacksonville, Florida, on June 22, 1564, under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière, it was intended as a refuge for the Huguenots. It lasted one year before being obliterated by the Spanish. The site is now operated as Fort Caroline National Memorial, a unit of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. For related events see Timeline of the colonization of North America. A French expedition, organized by Protestant leader Admiral Gaspard de Coligny and led by the Norman navigator Jean Ribault had landed at the site on the May River (now the St. Johns River) in February 1562, before moving north to Port Royal Sound....