THE OLDEST CITY'S HISTORY
Ancient history: 9000BC to 1565AD
The first Indians settle in Florida.
More than nine thousand years ago the first Indians settled in the peninsula now known as Florida.
The climate was cooler then. Grasslands and savannahs, similar to to-day's African Veldt covered the land.
The early Indians were nomads, hunters and gatherers finding bisons, deer, massive land turtles and giant armadillos to feed on.
After the Ice Age ended the climate warmed, vegetation and animal life evolving to resemble current conditions.
The Indians settled down to a more agrarian life during Spring and Summer leaving the hunt for the winter season.
Tribal groups formed sharing a common dialect, such as the Timucua Indians (details) (video) in Northern Florida,
among them the Saturiba tribe, comprising of about 30 villages all ruled by Cacique Saturiba. (details)
One such village, about 40 miles South of what is now Jacksonville, was Seloy (details)
Depictions of Indian life can be found in illustrations by Jacques LeMoyne. (details)
Shortly before and after the year 1500 the first contact between Indians and European explorers took place.
The Florentine Amerigo Vespucci, for whom Amerika was named (details) , might have reached Florida around 1499. (video)
More certain is the arrival of Juan Ponce de Leon, the "official discoverer" of our state.
On April 2, 1513, during the Pasqua Florida season he set foot on what he believed was an island
and named it La Florida (details) (video)(summary)
Almost 50 years later the first settlers arrived. A French expedition of Huguenots led by Jean Ribault (details) (video)
arrived the end of April 1562 and left a small colony, Port Royal, in what is now South Carolina.
So, Port Royal, not St. Augustine, is really the first settlement, however it burned down later and was not permanent.
Two years later, a larger expedition of Huguenots under Rene de Laudonniere (details) settled and built Fort Caroline
on the "River of May" now St. Johns River.(summary)
On August 28, 1565 Jean Ribault himself returned to the St. Johns River with a small fleet and a sizable force of men.
When news of Ribault's settlement at Port Royal reached the Spanish Court, King Philip II (details) (video)
commissioned a trusted naval commander, Pedro Menendez de Aviles to sail to Florida to oust the French heretics
and to claim it for Spain.
Thus, during the summer of 1565, Pedro Menendez departed for the new land arriving about
the same time as his enemies: Jean Ribault and the Huguenots.