Although Florida occupied a strategic location along the route of the treasure fleets, it remained unsettled for fifty years following its discovery. Numerous Spanish expeditions, such as those of Narváez, De Soto, and Tristán de Luna set out to explore, conquer and colonize Florida, but instead of gold and silver the conquistadores found only suffering and death in its wild interior or along its beaches.
[Illustration: _Indians worshipping one of the columns set up by Ribault, from a drawing by the French artist, Le Moyne._]
During this period of exploration and colonization Europe was the scene of bitter religious conflict. Spain, which was solidly a Catholic country, endeavored to stamp out all deviations from its faith. While neighboring France was predominantly Catholic, there were a number of Protestants in the country. They were called Huguenots and included some Frenchmen of noble birth.
Admiral Gaspard Coligny, leader of the French Protestants, or Huguenots, dreamed of establishing colonies in the New World that might rival Spain’s in riches and importance. An attempted settlement in Brazil in 1555 was destroyed by the Portuguese. In 1562 he sent out a small expedition under an able Huguenot navigator, Jean Ribault. These Frenchmen, after exploring a portion of the north Florida and lower Carolina coast and setting up columns claiming the land for France, built a small fort near Port Royal, South Carolina, which was soon abandoned by the small garrison left there.
During the next two years fighting broke out in France between the Catholics and Huguenots, preventing further colonizing activity. When peace was restored Coligny sent out a second and larger expedition in 1564, consisting of three vessels, under René de Laudonnière, who had accompanied Ribault on the first voyage. These colonists chose as a site for their settlement a point near the mouth of the St. Johns River in present-day Florida. There they built a fort, named Fort Caroline in honor of their boy king, Charles IX.
After searching the area in vain for evidences of gold and silver, the Frenchmen ran short of provisions and were forced to subsist mainly on food bartered or seized from the Indians. Meanwhile, some of their number mutinied and sailed away to attack Spanish shipping in the Caribbean. The rest were on the point of returning to France when Sir John Hawkins, an English freebooter, happened by and sold them one of his ships and needed supplies. They were again about to embark for France, when sails appeared off the river’s mouth. They were the ships of Jean Ribault bringing strong reinforcements.