Tag Archives: King Charles IX

    The St. Johns River provided a virtual cornucopia to its inhabitants for millennia. The rich bounty of the coastal riverine environment spawned a unique St. Johns culture. Before 500 BCE, residents had already established a basic lifeway from which the culture developed over the next thousand years. Fishing and shellfish-collecting supplied the bulk of their diet, supplemented by hunting and gathering. So reliable was the river’s reward that it supported permanent settlements long before the introduction of corn-based agriculture in the region. When St. Johns villages grew too large for adjacent resources to support, breakaway villages formed elsewhere …

Did you know that in 2014, Jacksonville has a date of special significance in the world history calendar? On May 1, 1562, French Huguenot  and three French ships under his command landed at the mouth of the St. Johns River, naming it the River of May. He claimed this bountiful and pristine land for France and named it New France, which subsequently appeared on maps of the time. According to his maritime journal, he met and exchanged gifts with the indigenous  tribes on the north and south banks of the river. On May 3rd, Ribault and his three ships, one …