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Fort Caroline's very existence mocked Spain's claim to Florida and threatened the passage of the of the Spanish treasure fleets that followed the Gulf Stream and swung close inshore.

Saint John's River is in the background.

The French were the first to seize a toehold in the Florida wilderness that Spain believed to be economically worthless. In 1564, France, making a determined effort to control this region, sent troops to the St. Johns River, where they built the sod-and-timber Fort Caroline.

Four centuries ago a 50-mile stretch of Florida's east coast witnessed the first conflict between Europeansin North America. In the years that followed, three nations shaped the area's history: Spain, who claimed it on the basis of discovery; France, who challenged that claim, alleging early exploration; and England, a latecomer in colonial expansion, who stood by waiting to develop the strength to take what she wanted. But the United States-a nation then unborn-won the land.