Fort Caroline
In 1564, two years after the French first explored the St. Johns River in northeast Florida, they constructed Fort Caroline. The colonists were mainly French Protestants, known as Huguenots, who had escaped religious persecution in France. Led by René de Laudonnière, the French settlers established good relations with the local Timucua-speaking tribes. However, conditions deteriorated, and the colonists faced starvation and internal strife. Some mutinied, left, and turned to piracy, but reinforcements from France soon arrived at Fort Caroline.
Spain learned of the French settlement in La Florida —territory that it claimed—and sent Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to expel the French in 1565. Menéndez established a base to the south at a location he named St. Augustine. The Spaniards then attacked Fort Caroline, overwhelming the garrison and killing its defenders. The site was renamed San Mateo. In 1568, in revenge for the earlier Spanish massacre, the French and their Indigenous allies attacked Spanish-held San Mateo, killing its defenders. The French then departed and La Florida remained a Spanish domain.
