Fort Caroline
| Fort Caroline National Memorial | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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| Location | Jacksonville, Florida, United States |
| Coordinates | 30°23′13″N 81°30′2″W / 30.38694°N 81.50056°WCoordinates: 30°23′13″N 81°30′2″W / 30.38694°N 81.50056°W |
| Area | 138.39 acres (56.00 ha) |
| Established | January 16, 1953 |
| Visitors | 145,736 (in 2005) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
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Fort Caroline National Memorial
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| Nearest city | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Area | 128 acres (51.8 ha) |
| Built | 1564 |
| NRHP Reference # | 66000061 |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
Fort Caroline National Memorial
Fort Caroline was one of the first French colonies in the present-day United States, located on the banks of the St. Johns River in what is now Jacksonville, Florida. It was established under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière on June 22, 1564, as a new territorial claim in French Florida and a safe haven for Huguenots. The French settlement came into conflict with the Spanish, who established St. Augustine in September 1565, and Fort Caroline was sacked by Spanish troops under Pedro Menéndez de Avilés on September 20. The Spanish continued to occupy the site as San Mateo until 1569.
The exact location where the fort once stood is unknown. In 1953 the National Park Service established the Fort Caroline National Memorial along the southern bank of the St. John's River near the point that commemorates Laudonnière's first landing. This is generally accepted by scholars as being in the vicinity of the original fort, though probably not the exact location. The memorial is now managed as a part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve although it remains a distinct National Park Service entity.
A French expedition, organized by Protestant leader Admiral Gaspard de Coligny and led by the French Explorer Jean Ribault, had landed at the site on the May River (now the St. Johns River) in February 1562, where Ribault encountered the Timucuans who were led by Chief Saturiwa. Ribault then traveled to present-day South Carolina and with twenty-eight men built a settlement known as Charlesfort. Ribault then returned to Europe to arrange supplies for the new colony, but was briefly imprisoned in England on suspicion of spying as a result of the French Wars of Religion, which prevented his return to Florida.
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Wikipedia