Two small French ships with 140 Huguenots onboard led by Jean Ribault, landed in Florida on this date in 1562. Using information gained from Verrazzano’s voyages to North America, Jean Ribault reached the coast of Florida near St. Augustine. He sailed northward to the mouth of a wide river which Ribault named the “River of May,” now known as the St. Johns River. On the banks of the St. Johns, Ribault erected a stone marker with the French coat of arms, announcing France’s claim to Florida. The group traveled north to what is today South Carolina and built Charlesfort on present-day Paris Island. Ribault returned to France for supplies, leaving thirty volunteers behind. Upon his return to France, he found a religious war raging and was forced to go to England, where he obtained the assistance of Elizabeth I. Ribault’s return was delayed, however, when he was briefly imprisoned in England on charges of espionage. While in England, Ribault wrote a brief memoir of his voyage to Florida, “The Whole and True Discovery of the Land of Florida.” Ribault came back to Florida in 1565, but Charlesfort had been abandoned and a new colony known as Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River was established in 1564. The colony was attacked and destroyed by Spanish forces led by Pedro Menéndeze de Avilés in 1565. Ribault was among those killed by the Spanish.
~Florida Historical Society
