Amelia Island

The first inhabitants of this area were the Timucuan Indians and there is evidence that they were here as long ago as 2000 B.C. One of their customs was tattooing themselves with red, black, yellow and blue on different areas of their body. There was probably, therefore, astonishment on the faces of the French settlers under Huguenot leader Jean Ribault when they first saw the indians as they landed on Amelia in 1562. It is said that the Timucuans greeted the landing French party with baskets of berries. Jean Ribault named the island “Isle de Mai” (Island of May) Knowing that the Spanish had claimed the area in 1513 did not prevent these French colonists from landing as not only were they seeking land for France but also refuge from the religious and political persecution that went along with being Huguenots. Though Ribault and his company didn’t remain, the Huguenots returned again in 1564 under the leadership of René de Laudonniere who was also a commander on the first voyage.

The second colony constructed Fort Caroline in Northern Jacksonville near the mouth of the St. John’s River. Things were short lived however, because in 1565, Spanish troops led by Pedro Menéndez de Aviles brutally slaughtered these French settlers in order to regain the territory they had plotted as their own years prior.

Continue this article for the Amelia Island Spanish History