CHAPTER III

FRANCE AND ENGLAND ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA


THE FRENCH IN SOUTH CAROLINA.--After the failure in Canada twenty years
passed away before the French again attempted to colonize. Then (1562)
Admiral Coligny (co-leen'ye), the leader of the Huguenots, or Protestants
of France, sought to plant a colony in America for his persecuted
countrymen, and sent forth an expedition under Ribaut (ree-bo'). These
Frenchmen reached the coast of Florida, and turning northward came to a
haven which they called Port Royal. Here they built a fort in what is now
South Carolina. Leaving thirty men to hold it, Ribaut sailed for France.
Famine, homesickness, ignorance of life in a wilderness, soon brought the
colony to ruin. Unable to endure their hardships longer, the colonists
built a crazy boat, [1] put to sea, and when off the French coast were
rescued by an English vessel.

[Illustration: THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH.]

THE FRENCH IN FLORIDA.--Two years later (1564) Coligny tried again, and
sent forth a colony under Laudonnière (lo-do-ne-air'). It reached the
coast of Florida, and a few miles up the St. Johns River built a fort
called Caroline in honor of the French King Charles. The next year there
came more colonists under Ribaut. [2]

[Illustration: FORT CAROLINE. From an old print.]