Abstract:
This story is about one episode in the long history of conflict between France and Spain during the early years of empire. It relates how a mutiny by bored and starving soldiers, a major military blunder by Jean Ribault, the incredible good luck of Pedro Menéndez, and the power of nature coalesced to crush France’s attempt to establish a Huguenot stronghold in Florida as a base to attack Spain’s treasure fleets and her West Indian settlements. The slaughter of the Huguenots by Menéndez in 1565 terminated France’s colonizing efforts in this part of the New World. The course of Florida history and possibly the history of much of the Americas might have been vastly altered had France been successful.