La Floride: A French Huguenot Colony in North America

[PGSBHurricane]

Prologue: An Age of Discovery

The initial voyage of Christopher Columbus (Cristoforo Colombo) from Palos de la Frontera in August 1492 would change the world forever. The idea of a navigable overseas trade route to the East Indies dated back to 1453 when the land route, also known as the Silk Road, prohibited Christian traders under the Ottoman Empire following the fall of Constantinople. In the 1480s, he had developed a plan by sailing directly across the Atlantic Ocean, which was the only ocean believed to exist then, with no landmasses in between other than the mythical island of Antillia. Of course, for various reasons, it was difficult for his plan to gain support. It was only in early 1492 when his plan was picked up by a monarchy, who was Queen Isabella of Spain. By then, Portugal had found an eastern route and was no longer interested in dealing with Christopher. In April 1492, in the "Capitulations of Santa Fe" between Columbus and Isabella, the former was promised the title of, "Admiral of the Ocean Sea" and the appointment of the titles of viceroy and governor of any successfully claimed colonies for the Spanish Crown. For his westward voyage in his quest to find a shorter route to the Indies, Columbus and his crew took three medium-sized ships: The Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. The ships departed into the Atlantic Ocean from Spain on August 3, 1492.

On October 12, Columbus and his crew had finally sighted land, which was a small island that he had named San Salvador. The indigenous Lucayan peoples had called it Guanahani. Columbus called them, along with the nearby Taínos and Arawaks, Indios (which was the Spanish term for "Indians” as he had believed he was in Asia), and believed they would be easy to convert to Christianity. He took note of their gold earrings and took some Arawaks prisoner so they could guide him to the source of gold. Later that month, he explored the northeastern coast of Cuba. By the end of the year, he had researched the northwest coast of Hispaniola, where the Santa Maria ran aground and was abandoned. There, he left 39 men behind, including his interpreter Luis de Torres, and founded the settlement of La Navidad. In January 1493, he completed his journey along the northeast coast of Hispaniola where he encountered the Ciguayos and found the inlet where he met them, the Bay of Arrows. As he returned to Europe, most people initially accepted that he had reached the East Indies. On May 4, 1493, the Pope decreed that the non-European world would be divided between Spain and Portugal along a north to south meridian 100 leagues west of either the Azores and Cape Verde Islands, granting Spain everything that was discovered by Columbus. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas moved the line an additional 270 leagues west. Columbus would take three more voyages into the West Indies before his death in 1506.

It was not until Amerigo Vespucci came along that the new landmass was disputed not to be part of Asia. In 1501, King Manuel I of Portugal commissioned an expedition to investigate a landmass far in the western Atlantic Ocean (which would eventually be renamed Brazil). Vespucci claimed much of the landmass that laid east of the line created by the Treaty of Tordesillas. In August 1501, he described the region as something that could only, “properly be called a New World,” and that it was not an island but rather a continent by itself. The Age of Exploration was now underway. In 1513, Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Panamanian Isthmus and reached the Pacific Ocean. Exploration of both the Eastern and Western hemispheres was bridged in 1522 when Ferdinand Magellan completed the first circumnavigation of the world, passing through the Straits of Magellan near the tip of South America and what was later named the Philippine Archipelago off the Pacific Coast of China. Of course, Spain and Portugal were not the only European countries involved in discovering new lands. The expedition of John Cabot of England to the North in 1497 came right on the heels of Columbus and his southward expeditions. The Dutch soon followed suit with their own explorations and discoveries. But this tale focuses on yet another player in this game: France.

One of the first major expeditions under the French flag was by Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, who was motivated by indignation over the division of the world between Spain and Portugal. In 1524, he explored the Atlantic Coast of North America from Florida to Newfoundland. From 1534 to 1536, French explorer Jacques Cartier traveled into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and then into the St. Lawrence River. He named the land, “The Country of Canadas,” and claimed it for France. Europeans outside the Iberian Peninsula recognized neither the Treaty of Tordesillas nor Pope Alexander VI's donation to Spanish finds in the New World. Two of these new competitors were Protestant, England and the Netherlands, which did not recognize the Pope anyway and the other was France despite itself being Catholic. It did, though, have a significant Protestant minority in the form of Huguenots, who were French Calvinists and adopted the Huguenot name in 1560. Concentrated in western and southern France, they were initially tolerated. When the Edict of St. Germaine was issued in 1562, which granted them religious freedom with limitations, France had two million Huguenots within its borders. On March 1, the ultra-Catholic Francis, Duke of Guise, massacred dozens (if not hundreds of Huguenots) and injured up to 200 in the town of Vassy, beginning the French Wars of Religion. Desperate for escape, some Huguenots sought refuge across the Atlantic Ocean.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Chapter One: A Whole New World

Before 1562, there was one other attempt at Huguenot colonization in the Americas. The first colony was called France Antarctique, dating back to 1555 when French vice-admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon (a Catholic knight in the Order of Malta,) led a fleet of two ships containing 600 soldiers and colonists to South America. They took possession of a small island in the Guanabara Bay, in front of present-day Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The fort was named Fort Coligny, in honor of Gaspard de Coligny. Largely unnoticed by the Portuguese, Villegaignon called for more colonists in 1556. Two years later, Villegaignon returned to France in disgust with the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in the colony in order to obtain more funds and ships for the Huguenot colony, but the Crown did not consider it much of a priority at the time. In 1560, Mem de Sá, the Governor-General of Brazil, was commanded by the Portuguese government to expel the French Huguenots from their colony. On March 15, 1560, a fleet of 26 warships and 2,000 soldiers attacked Fort Coligny and destroyed it within three days, but the colonists escaped to the mainland with the help of Native Brazilians before they could be driven off. Their fortunes came to an end in January 1567 when a new attack force under the command of Estácio de Sá expelled the French from Brazil, and Villegagnon agreed to give up any claims to France Antarctique.

Meanwhile, there was a second attempt at colonization in the Americas by the Huguenots, this time to the North. This second colony was located in the Florida region, with plans created by French Huguenot leader, Admiral of France Gaspard de Coligny, and led by Norman navigator Jean Ribault. Coligny immediately set his sights on Florida following the loss of Fort Coligny in 1560. In February 1562, they left France and landed along the shores of the Rivière de Mai (or what the Spanish called the Río San Juan) near Spanish Florida on April 30. However, they determined it wasn’t suitable for colonization at the time and relocated northward soon after. With 28 troops, including his second-in-command René Goulaine de Laudonnière, and 150 civilian men, Ribault landed at the Bras de Mer aux Port-Royal along the Rivières Chenonceaux et Livourne on May 17. They named the settlement Charlesfort for the 12-year-old king of France, Charles IX. Almost no one expected the colony to survive more than a year. A major part of this expectation was because almost no one knew how to grow crops and survival would depend on relations with the Native Americans as well as the provisions they arrived in the New World with. Ribault then returned to France to arrange supplies for the new colony, leaving the colony in the hands of Captain Albert de la Pierria while Gaspard de Coligny was also in Europe.

Departing Charlesfort on June 11, Ribault's intentions while in France were to collect supplies for the fort and return to North America by the end of the year. When he arrived at Le Havre, France (about 85 kilometers from his birth town of Dieppe) he found about the breaking out of the French Wars of Religion between the Roman Catholic majority of France and the Protestant Huguenots. Both sides, following the seizure of Orleans by Louis, Prince of Condé, began peace talks on May 18. The initial round of negotiations failed because the Huguenots insisted on the removal of Guise from the French court, but the Crown refused. In June, Anne de Montmorency stepped in with potential terms including banning all preachers from France and the removal of Protestant princes from the country until the King came of age. Neither was acceptable to Conde, but he saw the latter as the lesser of two evils. Using this as a starting point, he agreed they would be imprisoned in the Tower of London in exile. The Edict of Amboise, signed on October 26, 1562, the same day the Siege of Rouen ended, restricted communal Calvinist worship to the suburbs of one town in each bailliage excluding Paris (exceptions being Protestant nobles) outside of towns held by Huguenot garrisons at the end of the war. Sized property of the Catholic Church would be returned while political and religious leagues would be suspended. Finally, the Crown agreed to pay for The Huguenot Army if they promised to leave France.

After Ribault arrived in France, he assisted the Huguenots at Dieppe but was forced to flee to England when his birth city fell to Catholic forces. While in England, he found an audience with Queen Elizabeth I and organized some backers for a plan to settle in America. However, not wanting to anger her brother-in-law Phillip II of Spain, she had him arrested in June 1563 in The Tower of London from June 1563 through fall 1564. Nevertheless, the 1562 Peace of Amboise allowed Gaspard de Coligny to devote his attention back to North America. In the wake of the whereabouts of Ribault in Europe, Coligny appointed Ribault's former lieutenant, René Goulaine de Laudonnière, to replace Ribault as the commander of the Charlesfort colony and any other potential Huguenot colonies in North America. To most settlers, this was a welcome change. Charlesfort had begun to fall into despair. The heavy discipline used by Captain Albert de la Pierria was starting to lead to a mutiny among the soldiers. Fortunately, René Goulaine de Laudonnière, was able to end the worst of the despair, as he called for more supplies to be shipped in, and prevent any real mutineering from happening. In the meantime, they were able to gather some additional supplies and exchange some other goods with local Native tribes like the Orista And Escamacu peoples. In 1564, Laudonnière sailed south in a crude vessel hoping to find more trading partners and perhaps a spot for a new settlement.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Chapter Two: Southward Bound

The year 1564 marked a major turning point for the colonists at Charlesfort. Before then, it was all about survival and maintaining the stability of the colony. With things having been somewhat turned around under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière (who encouraged some agriculture) rather than Captain Albert de la Pierria, they could begin to look outward instead of inward. In a daring move, the colonists built their own boat and sailed south along the Atlantic coast beginning in April 1564. The initial goal was to gather more supplies for Charlesfort, including trading with the local Guale tribe. Along the way, they found some new islands and rivers, including the Rivieres Grande, Belle, Gironde, Garonne, Cherente, and the Loire. The Rivieres Somme and Seine would later be discovered. Some of the islands that they found included Braud Isle, Belle Isle, the Ile de Garonne, and several others. But, the one that they took most interest in, which was off the coast of the Riviere Garonne, was the Isle de Charont. It was the alleged location of the relocated Spanish colony San Miguel de Gualdape in 1526 that started over 320 miles away but moved to a “powerful river.” The Spanish settlement at the Isle de Charont had lasted only two months before disease, hunger, a slave uprising, and a hostile Native American population had overwhelmed them, and only 25% of the original settlers survived. Laudonnière did not want to make those same mistakes this time.

Laying out a more specific plan in mind, he claimed the Isle de Charont for the Huguenot colony and engaged in trade with some of the local native tribes before returning back to Charlesfort by June 22, 1564. It was at Charlesfort where he was expected to greet between 200 and 300 new settlers, in which Coligny received 50,000 crowns from French King Charles IX and authorized the arrival of three ships with the new Huguenot colonists. On July 28, Laudonnière and his men landed at the Isle de Charont, creating a second settlement there, and soon sent his ships back to France for more supplies and 500 additional colonists. At Isle de Charont, settlers established a flour mill, bakery, blacksmith, and church. Exploration in the countryside for gold happened but to no avail. Small plots of land began being cleared for crops, but there was still a degree of dependence on supply ships. Meanwhile, in Europe, Jean Ribault was still in prison through fall 1564 and when he was released, he found himself caught in the outbreak of another war in France and was unable to set sail at the appointed time. Back in North America, at Isle de Charont, food supplies were pasable thanks to trade with the Guales and some subsistence agriculture, but it was less than what they were accustomed to in France, given they were mostly of the merchant class. A lack of mineral wealth soon contributed to discontent among 13 soldiers to rebel and try to assassinate Laudonnière.

Upon his release from prison in 1564, Jean Ribault was commissioned to lead the relief mission to Florida. Ribault’s fleet consisted of seven ships loaded with arms and ammunition, general supplies, livestock, and 1,000 people in total (including soldiers, seamen, and colonists). Originally, the plan for Ribault was to set sail in Spring 1565 with reinforcements and fresh supplies, but the later than expected prison release pushed this back a couple of months. By June 1565, all food supplies were below normal levels due to crop shortages from the bad summer and food to trade with the local tribes, and no resupply ships had arrived yet. It was considered among leaders like Laudonnière to retreat to Charlesfort. It was not until August 3 where an English fleet led by Sir John Hawkins showed up to trade food and a vessel with the Huguenots in exchange for cannons and gunpowder. On August 28, when the colonists were starting to prepare to retreat, Jean Ribault had finally reappeared after a three-year absence, complete with new supplies, soldiers, and settlers on 7 ships. As soon as he stepped off the boats, Ribault assumed once more the position of Governor of the colony from Rene Goulaine de Laudonniere. The pair sailed back to Charlesfort from Isle de Charont, temporarily left in the hands of military officials, to make this transfer official and to make sure supplies are evenly distributed between the two settlements.

Meanwhile, the Spanish, who were mostly based in the Caribbean at this point, were feared by the Huguenots that if their location was given away, their settlements and lives would be destroyed, especially as they slowly drifted southward. Fortunately, this would not happen for several years despite Spain wanting to strengthen trade links with the Caribbean, namely Cuba and Mexico. Hence they were more focused on the Gulf of Mexico instead of the Atlantic Ocean and founded the colony of San Marcos de Apalache in 1565, their second attempt in the region following their first failed experiment in 1559. With the Huguenots, 1566 would mark a major turning point for their colonies. First, the Isle de Royale, which neighbored Charlesfort to the East. It was settled by Huguenot colonists who felt like Charlesfort was overflowing with not enough space for more people. The two settlements, plus Isle de Charont, would be united into the colony of La Floride. Charlesfort was declared as the capital of La Floride. That same year, planning for an additional southward expedition began. The plan entailed picking up colonists at the Isle de Charont and sailing parallel to the Atlantic Coast before landing at the mouth of the Riviere de Mai. Due to various difficulties, the plan was not able to commence until 1568 when Dominique de Gourgues led the expedition that April. They named their destination Fort Caroline for King Charles IX. They were joined by some of the survivors at Fort Coligny (France Antarctique). While not the first nor important settlement within the colony of La Floride, it would develop into the archetype for most of their other colonies.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Chapter Three: A People In Turmoil

On August 17, 1563, when he was just fourteen years old, Charles IX was declared of age at Rouen, but he showed very minimal interest in actual governance. Still, his coming of age meant that preachers and Protestant princes banned from France could return if they wished. At the same time, in order to revive loyalty to the monarchy, Catherine de' Medici decided to tour France with her son from January 1564 through May 1565 to enforce the Edict of Amboise. During this time, she met with Jeann e d'Albret, the Protestant queen regnant of Navarre, as well as her daughter Elisabeth. In 1566, Charles and Catherine proposed to the Ottoman Court, through its ties to the Ottoman ambassador, Guillaume de Grandchamp de Grantrie, a plan to resettle French (and German) Protestants to Ottoman-controlled Moldavia as a military buffer against the Habsburgs. However, this was not taken seriously by the Ottomans and failed to generate any real interest despite the Franco-Ottoman alliance. September 27, 1567 was a key turning point from the perspective of Catherine de' Medici. On that day, in what was known as the Surprise of Meaux, Huguenot forces attempted to ambush the king and the rest of the French Royal family, triggering the Second War of Religion which came to an end after the Peace of Longjumeau in March 1568. The attempt on her life and her loved ones caused her to abandon compromise with the Huguenots and instead pursue a policy of repression.

Famously corresponding with her changes in attitude, she told the Venetian ambassador in June 1568 that all one could expect from Huguenots was nothing but deceit. She also praised Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba, for his reign of terror in the Netherlands, where Calvinists were expelled or killed by the thousands (which itself had a hand in sparking the Dutch Revolt that May). A sizable minority of these Calvinists fled to La Floride. At this point, the largest concentration of Huguenots in France was in La Rochelle on the West Coast of France. To show how strong their faith still was, Jeanne d'Albret wrote to Catherine that, "We have come to the determination to die...rather than abandon our God, and our religion." The third War of Religion broke out in 1568 as Catholic leagues sprang up across France that summer and fall in reaction to the peace. In September, the right of Huguenots to worship was revoked. In fear for their lives, Conde and Coligny fled to Noyers and Tanlay respectively. Under Conde, a formidable army was gathered, including 14,000 mercenary reiters, and their financing was largely sourced from Queen Elizabeth of England who was influenced by Sir Francis Walsingham. At the Battle of Jarnac in March 1569, Condé was killed, forcing Admiral de Coligny to take command of the Protestant forces. The Battle of La Roche-l'Abeille was a nominal victory for the Huguenots, but they were defeated at the Battle of Moncontour. Still, Charles IX desired a peaceful resolution to the war.

The desires of the king plus the staggering increase in royal debt led to the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on August 8, 1570, negotiated by Jeanne d'Albret, which once more allowed concessions to the Huguenots, perhaps more than ever before up to that point. Compared to during the Second and Third Wars of Religion, Huguenot emigration to the New World was slow due to relative toleration. Their luck would run out, very tragically, in 1572. The peace was precarious since most Catholics did not accept it, especially not the readmittance of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny into the king's council in September 1571. Catherine de' Medici, and her son, Charles IX, did nothing because they knew about the financial difficulties France was facing and the strong defensive position the Huguenots were in as they controlled the towns of La Rochelle, La Charité-sur-Loire, Cognac, and Montauban. To cement this deal, Catherine arranged for her daughter Margaret to marry the Protestant, Henry of Navarre, son of Huguenot leader Queen Jeanne d'Albret on August 18, 1572. This marriage was condemned by traditionalist Catholics, including the Pope and King Philip II of Spain. The overwhelming majority of Parisians, encouraged by Catholic preachers, were horrified at the marriage. Parliament was opposed and even the court was mixed. All of this caused a major increase in poltical tension across the country.

This tension would soon result in the luck of the Huguenots running out very quickly. After the wedding between Margaret and Henry, Admiral Coligny and other Huguenots remained in Paris to discuss with the King the Peace of St. Germain. Four days later, Coligny was coming home from the Louvre when he was shot and wounded from a window, with bullets tearing off a finger from his right hand and shattering his left elbow. Although the probable assassin was Charles de Louviers, Lord of Maurevert, it is possible that the Guises, the Duke of Alba, or Catherine de’ Medici herself was responsible. The King sent his physician to treat Coligny. On August 24, he was killed by Jean Charles D´Ianowitz, but other Huguenots would face a similar fate. Beginning that same day, and lasting into October of 1572, thousands of Huguenots, including several leaders, were killed in France, including Paris, and other provincial towns and cities. The perpetrators were granted amnesty in 1573. Henry of Navarre and his cousin, the Prince of Condé, were spared as they pledged to convert to Catholicism but bother pronounced their conversion both renounced their conversions after they escaped Paris. In the weeks following the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, there were mass conversions of Huguenots to Catholicism, while others fled to La Floride in North America, both causing the Huguenot population to drop to 7-8% of that of France by 1600. News of the massacre spread across the Atlantic.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Chapter Four: Continuous Endeavors

In 1572, there were only 2,000 white settlers in La Floride, with the majority concentrated at either Garrone, Charlesfort, or Isle de Royal. The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre would forever change the landscape of France as the Huguenot population would continuously decline for centuries after. By 1600, there were approximately 9,000 white colonists over in La Floride, most of them French Huguenots with a small sprinkling of German and Dutch Calvinists. This was due to a natural replicating population as entire families came over en masse. Although some settlers arrived in the fall of 1572, the first real inflow of Huguenots and Calvinists began in 1573. Having been killed during the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, his son, Francois de Coligny, stepped in to take his place as the primary financial sponsor and the overall leader of the operations in the colony. A small stream of funds also came from Queen Elizabeth of England, as had been the case in the Wars of Religion. By 1585, areas as far South as Cap Roselière and as far north as what is now Cape Lookout were explored by the Huguenots and claimed for future settlement. Also by then, the colony of La Floride had grown to the point of there being three separate colonies under the umbrella of La Floride: one each in the north, south, and central parts of the colony. The South was named La Caroline after Fort Caroline, the central colony was named Nouvelle-Normandie for the homeland of Jeanne Ribault, and the north was referred to as Nouvelle-Bourgogne (the homeland of Gaspard de Coligny) and it was anchored at Wineau.

Of course, by this time, not only were the French and Spanish colonizing North America but England was on its way as well, exploring and looking at much of the Atlantic Coast of the continent. This meant the Huguenots had to be careful not to be swallowed up by the English despite being nominally allied. The first known permanent English settler in North America was Robert Tossey of Dartmouth, England who settled at Harbour Grace in Newfoundland in 1583, the same year Humphrey Gilbert claimed it for the English crown. The town, founded by Francis I of France in 1517, is thought to have its name derived from Harve de Grace, the name used for LeHarve, France. Newfoundland would be a long-time source of tension between the English and French. Back in England, Queen Elizabeth had divided the charter granted to Humprey Gilbert in 1578 between his brother Adrian Gilbert, and his half-brother Sir Walter Raleigh. Adrian's charter gave him Newfoundland and all points north, while Raleigh was awarded the lands to the south, with large portions already claimed by the Spanish and Huguenots. Raleigh needed to establish a colony within seven years or else he would lose his right to colonization. He was to, via delegated missions, discover lands and territories to occupy and utilize on behalf of the Crown. This would become a reality sooner than one would have anticipated at the time.

Setting sail from England in 1584, two barques captained by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe headed south to catch the easterly trade winds that would carry them to the West Indies where they collected freshwater. The two ships then sailed northward until early July (July 4) when they sighted land at modern-day Cap Rochelle. They made landfall thirteen days later at an inlet which they named Litte Egg Harbor because of the eggs found in nearby seagull nests after they moved up the Atlantic Coast following a similar route that Giovanni da Verrazzano took 60 years earlier. After establishing friendly relations, they returned to England in the autumn of 1584 where they spoke highly of the tribes' hospitality, with two natives being brought with them as physical evidence, and the strategic location of the area. The expedition's reports described the region as pleasant and bountiful as the Garden of Eden. An impressed Queen Elizabeth granted Raleigh the territory of Virginia, referring to the area along the Atlantic Ocean between La Floride and New France, and proclaimed him the Knight Lord and Governor of Virginia. Raleigh sought investors for the colony, which was planned largely as a military operation focused on exploring and evaluating natural resources. Ralph Lane was appointed as the governor of the colony, Philip Amadas as the admiral, and Sir Richard Grenville as the overall leader of operations.

Approximately six hundred men were sent to Virginia on the initial voyage. The fleet sailing over to the New World consisted of seven ships): the Tiger (Grenville's flagship), Roebuck Red Lion, Elizabeth, Dorothy (Raleigh's personal ship), and two pinnaces. The fleet departed from Plymouth, England on April 9, 1585, traveling south through the Bay of Biscay. One pinnace sank due to a severe storm off the coast of Portugal. The remaining ships met up on the South Coast of Puerto Rico in May. The next month, all but one of the remaining ships (the other pinnace) arrived at LIttle Egg Harbor. Half of the original 600 men were planned to stay behind with Ralph Lane as part of this new colony. Meanwhile, a second fleet was scheduled to leave England that same month so it could deliver a second wave of colonists and supplies. After that arrived, the ship was redirected to Newfoundland on its journey home, to alert fishing fleets that the Spanish had begun seizing English commercial vessels in retaliation for attacks by English privateers. Once the second round of supplies ran out, the colony would be dependent on the generosity of the local tribes. They named their settlement after the correspondingly named harbor. Grenville left for England on August 25 to arrange for more supplies. The colonists spent the autumn acquiring corn, fish, oysters, and venison from the Lenape tribe to sustain themselves through the winter in case supplies ran out, but the easy part for the English colonists was over.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Chapter Five: A Struggle Of a Place for Protestants

As previously mentioned, 1572 marked a turning point for the Huguenots, as a wave of immigration to La Floride began following the St. Bartholomew Day’s Massacre. While this significantly heightened the likelihood for the survival of the colony, this did not stop much in the way of turmoil. First, there was the looming threat of two neighbors: the English to the North and especially Spanish to the West. The Spanish and their colonies represented what the Huguenots hated and feared: oppressive Catholocism and their attempts (along with the Portuguese, whom the Huguenots faced directly at Fort Coligny) to eliminate the Protestant presence in North America, even if it meant killing off Protestants. Not long before the first settlement in La Floride outside of Charlesfort, the governor of Spanish Florida, Menedez de Aviles placed soldiers under Francisco de Reinoso on an island at what is now called Bahía del Estero (Estero Bay). Juan Rogel began his missionary duties in March 1567 while Aviles built a fort and houses for the missionaries. This, along with San Marcos, began the rise of a Spanish sphere of influence along the western coast of Florida. There was an attempt at Tequesta along the Miami River on the southeast coast but that was abandoned by 1570 in order to focus on San San Antón de Carlos on the West Coast. A second mission, Santa Ana, was established in 1587 to more easily connect the previous two established posts.

To the north, the English looked like they were having some of their challenges as well. Initially, many English colonists came aboard to the New World in order to find gold or silver. When it soon became obvious that there were no traceable sources for these riches within a nearby distance, some of the men became despondent and gave up on the entire operation. Noticing copper among the Native American tribes in the area (mostly in the form of rings) and while the English did some inquiring about how they abstained it, they could never track the copper to its point of origin. Little information survives, however, about the winter months between September 1585 and March 1586, although the colonists most likely exhausted their provisions by October, just a month before new resupply ships came in for the winter. At the same time, Spanish Amadas spent time exploring the region, impressed with its climate and soil quality. There was also a small but deadly epidemic of either influenza or smallpox that winter at Little Egg Harbor. By spring relations between the colonists and the Lenni Lenape were not as positive as when the colony was set up due to a high degree (but not over-reliance) on the food the Natives shared with them. With the risk of war between the Natives and colonists rising along with general tension, things would temporarily ease upon the arrival of fresh supplies by Easter as Grenville promised.

The French Huguenots themselves may have had the worst go so far. Aside from two rivaling neighbors, it had plenty of internal challenges to deal with. First, who would be responsible for agricultural production? Unlike the Spanish colonies which were settled by Conquistadores, soldiers, and missionaries, largely depending on the Natives and farmers came later, and the English colonies which were dominated by poor colonists and criminals who were undesired at home (many of whom were farmers), the majority of the colonists in La Floride were upper-middle-class merchants. This meant that no one was overtly skilled at large-scale farming. Some small-scale farming was conducted in La Floride, but that was before the large wave of migration began in 1572. As a solution, they recruited German and Dutch-speaking farmers to accompany them. On top of that, there were some problems within the government. With the primary areas of settlement fairly distant and spread out from each other, communication was often days apart and often on different pages. Some government officials within the colony spend much of their money on trying to find gold and silver, and many people were angry when it turned out there was little to none available as they assumed their money was being wasted. Tropical diseases like malaria were present, thanks to the colony being located in low-lying marshland, causing a notable death toll. But there was a much bigger challenge they had to face.

At this point, the Spanish and Portuguese Catholics were dominating the New World. King Philip of Spain was so appalled at the spread of Protestantism into England he developed an idea to conquer the British Isle to bring it back into the Catholic fold. Tensions rose in the 1580s between Spain and England after Elizabeth greenlit privateers like Sir Francis Drake to conduct raids on Spanish fleets. England and Spain entered a state of war in 1585 when England signed a treaty supporting Dutch rebels in the Spanish Netherlands and Philip formulated a plan to remove Elizabeth from the English throne. This would be done with the Spanish Armada (a naval force of 130 ships, 8,000 seamen 18,000 soldiers). The Armanda met the English fleet for the first time on July 31 off the coast of Plymouth. For the next several days, the English harassed the Spanish Armada as it charged towards the English channel. On August 8, the English set eight empty vessels ablaze and they drifted towards the Armada, causing a wave of panic and forcing them to flee and while out of formation. The English were able to launch a naval offensive the same day, the Battle of Gravelines. Shortly after, strong winds carried the Armada into the North Sea, reducing supplies and enabling the spread of disease. Invasion plans were called off and by the time it reached Spain again that autumn, 60 of its 130 ships were lost and 15,000 men died. England became a European naval powerhouse and Protestants could stay in North America.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

I'm only focusing on the present-day USA and Canada because little south of the American border changes, if at all. Note that Florida is divided into a French sphere of influence in the east and a Spanish one in the west.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Chapter Six: French Colonial Development Around 1600

The 1580 and 1590s into the early 1600s marked yet another milestone for French colonialism in North America. In the North of the continent of North America was New France. In 1524, after exploring the Carolina coast and sailing up the Atlantic shoreline, Florentine navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano eventually reached the Maritime Provinces of Canada and ultimately gave the names Francesca and Nova Gallia to the land between New Spain and English Newfoundland. Verrazzano's voyage convinced King Francis I to seek to establish a colony in the newly discovered land. Ten years later, French explorer Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula and claimed the land for the King, naming the area Canada. Aiming to colonize and expand its influence in North America, the first settlement of 400 people, Fort Charlesbourg-Royal, was attempted in 1541 but lasted only two years. Still, French fishing fleets continued to sail to the Atlantic coast and into the St. Lawrence River Valley, making alliances with Canadian First Nations. French merchants soon realized the St. Lawrence region was full of valuable fur-bearing animals like the beaver which were increasingly scarce in Europe. With the success of the English Colony in Virginia, the French crown focused on a more determined effort in colonizing its North American claims and vowed to be much more prepared than the first time around.

In 1596, 55 years after initially arriving at Fort Charlesbourg-Royal, it was decided that there would be another attempt at settling the area. This second group of 400 settlers would arrive two summers later under the leadership of merchant François Gravé Du Pont and Calvinist naval captain Pierre de Chauvin de Tonnetuit who acquired a ten-year fur trade monopoly from King Henry IV. Prior to this expedition, Pierre de Chauvin served as the captain of the important Huguenot garrison at Honfleur in 1589. By 1596, he had an interest in commerce and maritime enterprise, owning four vessels with which he regularly engaged in the respective fur trade and cod-fishery of Canada and Newfoundland. Regarding the second settlement attempt at Charlesbourg-Royal, 35 people survived the winter, with most deaths from disease. What saved them from extinction was alliances made with indigenous tribes, including the Iroquis, that were not present 55 years earlier, and commerce and fishing knowledge from de Chauvin, so starvation was not as major. Later that year, he sailed to France to get supplies for Charlesbourg-Royal and settlers for a second settlement about 200 kilometers down the St. Lawrence River. In 1605, a fort named Baie Rouge was set up at the site of an old Basque whaling station on the north bank of the Strait of Belle Isle, and a settlement was set up at the Gaspe Peninsula in Newfoundland just a few kilometers from the planted cross, but none would be as important as the foundation of Quebec City in 1608.

After this monopoly expired in 1606, the captain relocated his efforts over to La Floride. The Huguenots were undergoing a great period of settler expansion at the time, beginning in 1587. With the exception of the Riviere de Mai to the South or Wineau to the North, most of the settlement was between the Riviere Grande and Charlesfort. While there were some French settlements between the Rivieres Grande and Mai, most were not permanent but rather seasonal. This would change beginning in 1587 with the second permanent settlement south of the Riviere Grande at a river on the west side of the Isle de Seme, followed by a third five miles east of Fort Caroline at the mouth of the Riviere de Mai. Further up the river, what became Montreal was scouted in 1588 before being settled for the first time in 1595. The time between the years 1595 and 1597 marked an exploration of what would later be named the Iles de la Mar. These islands were a chain of tidal and barrier islands on the Atlantic coast from the Riviere de Mai in the South to Charlesfort and the Riviere Basse in the north. While there were already seasonal settlements and trading posts here, there were essentially no permanent settlements due to it being a warm, subtropical marshland. The seasonal settlers typically moved to Fort Caroline or Charlesfort after it ended. The assessment for the viability of permanent colonies here was concluded in 1597.

Before a proper conclusion could be made back at Charlesfort as to whether or not to move ahead, there was some news from overseas back in France. Signed in April 1598, the Edict of Nantes was signed by King Henry IV, granting the French Huguenots substantial rights and aiming to promote unity and end the French Wars of Religion. Given that he was Protestant before taking the throne in 1589 and remained sympathetic to the Protestant cause even after his conversion to Catholicism in 1593, it was expected that he would favor such an edict. The edict allowed for Protestants to be treated as more than just schismatics and heretics, offering general freedom of conscience to individuals, amnesty, the right to work anywhere they pleased, and to bring grievances to the king. While it didn’t fully please either party (Catholics wanted religious uniformity and Protestants aspired for full parity), it was a major step in the right direction towards tolerance and secularism. This had the effect of slowing down long-term Huguenot migration to La Floride, but not stopping it as parity had not been fully achieved in France and many wanted to exist in a Protestant society that La Floride allowed. Thus the new logistics delayed the execution of plans for new colonial settlements until 1602 and would not be fully complete until 1604. Two of the first settlements founded would soon develop into the ports of Loire and Ville Magnum. Despite this success, more competition would be on the horizon for the Huguenots.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Chapter Seven: Ventures in Virginia

With Little Egg Harbor a relative success, culminating in a second wave of settlers arriving in 1587, the English crown took colonization to the next level. The success invited potential investors because Little Egg Harbor showed that it could be done. Hence, the Virginia Company was created in April 1591, just two years after the English Armada, which itself was a counter to the Spanish Armada of 1588. The Virginia Company had two divisions, the London Company and the Plymouth Company. The first division, the London Company, was officially known as the Virginia Company of London since most of its shareholders were in London and was granted the responsibility for colonizing the American coast between 34°N and 41° N. The second division, the Plymouth Company, had its shareholders mostly in Plymouth and was tasked with colonizing the east coast of America between latitudes 38° and 45° N. Coincidentally, Little Egg Harbor was in the area of responsibility for both divisions of the Virginia Company. Business for Virginia picked up in 1594 when Sir Walter Raleigh, after being released from the Tower of London for having secretly married one of Queen Elizabeth’s ladies-in-waiting without her permission in 1591, heard of rumors of gold. Raleigh was already granted a royal patent to explore Virginia, he did so again. The southernmost boundary of Virginia at 34° N would put the English in conflict with the Huguenots who claimed their northernmost boundary at 35° N.

This conflict would begin in 1597 when he was chosen to yet again lead an expedition to Virginia. Unlike the previous expedition, this one would land in the lower part of Virginia, and the Native Americans this expedition had encountered seemingly had previous Europeans based on their higher levels of certainty. The most prominent tribe was the Secotan, one of many regional Algonquin tribes. Further south, the Huguenots established a trading post at the area they named La Vieille Ville (named for a neighborhood in Nice, France) following the Edict of Nantes in 1598 to signify their claims in the region. In response, the English set up a settlement in spring 1600 along the Neuse River off the Pamlico Sound, which was mistaken for the Chesapeake Bay at the time. It was named Elizabeth Town, for the reigning queen of England. The first arrivals were over 100 men with very few women on board the ship. From 1600 to 1603, as governor of Lower Virginia at Elizabeth Town, Raleigh created a modern defense system for the colony, including the construction of a new fort protecting the riverbank and interior from a potential invasion from the Spanish. Unfortunately, so much money was spent on defense that two-thirds of the colonists starved that winter. Four months after Queen Elizabeth I died and King James I ascended the throne, Raleigh returned to England and stepped down from his title of governor.

What Little Egg Harbor was to Upper Virginia, Elizabeth Town was to Lower Virginia. While neither would be the heart of English North America, both settlements were important stepping stones for future growth in the colonies. Unfortunately, the Plymouth Company could not quite find the same success as the London Company. What came under the jurisdiction of the Plymouth Company became known as New Plymouth (or unofficially North Virginia). Setting sail from Plymouth, England on May 12, 1603, the Richard arrived at the Canary Islands on May 31 before making their way to the Antilles by mid-July. Heading through Spanish and Huguenot-controlled waters, they evaded capture and sailed up the coast for two weeks until landing at present-day Pemaquid in late August. After exploring the area for six weeks, the ship arrived back in England in late November when a charter was granted. Over 120 men and boys set sail from Plymouth in March 1604, stopping in Newfoundland on May 1 before arriving at the colony at the end of June. Its president was George Popham and the colony was named after his uncle and primary financial backer Sir John Popham. However, their late arrival gave them no time to grow food and winter came unusually early, doing so in October. Of the original settlers, only 44 survived through the winter with most dying from the cold or various diseases. The Richard arrived on June 15, 1605, to pick up the survivors, half of whom went to Newfoundland and the other half returned to England.

At the same time, Lower Virginia was growing into one of the most prosperous European American colonies. From Elizabeth Town, colonists continued slowly moving northward and especially westward in order to find gold and silver. It was sped along after a flotilla of seven English ships was broken up by a storm in 1609, with one ship landing at the archipelago of Bermuda with over 150 passengers. It was claimed for the British crown and the survivors, intending to arrive in Elizabeth Town, were shifted north by the Gulf Stream by about 60 miles. They landed at the narrows of the Pasquotank River, which itself was off the Roanoke Sound. They named this settlement, James Town after the reigning English king. Some of the others eventually relocated to Plymouth Landing deeper within Roanoke Sound, which was named for the city the original flotilla sailed from. By the end of the 1610s, settlers had finally reached the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. At the same time, the settlers at Little Egg Harbor were gradually moving southward. Due to their proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, two notable colonial settlements founded in the area were Atlantic City and Ocean City (founded in 1604 and 1609 respectively). They were gradually moving closer to the Delaware Bay, which was explored by Henry Hudson for the Dutch as well as Cornelis Jacobsen Mey. Both Lower and Upper Virginia were known for glassware due to ships with supplies from central European craftsmen, leading to glass becoming the top export at the time.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Chapter Eight: Additional Early Colonial Development

The French were on the verge of a breakthrough in North America. Acadia became one of the first noted (Catholic) French colonies in the North American region. First settled at Fort Royal in 1605, it was abandoned, re-established, and destroyed by 1613, after which settlers moved to other nearby areas within Acadia. New France, or Canada, became the much more prominent colony of the French at this time. In 1608, Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons (A Huguenot) and Samuel de Champlain (a Catholic) founded the city of Quebec with 28 other men. Colonization was slow and difficult due to many settlers dying from harsh weather and diseases. Champlain allied with the Algonquin, Huron, Montagnais peoples in the area, who were at war with the Iroquois. These bonds were essential for the existence of the French fur trade. With the Huguenots, it was all a bunch of trial and error. Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons arrived in La Floride 1610, four years after Pierre de Chauvin de Tonnetuit arrived. This proved to be viable in the institution-building of La Floride. On the other hand, the Huguenots tried to carve out a new settlement about 85 kilometers to the northeast beginning in August 1607 but weak leadership and hostile Native American tribes nearby caused the colony to only last for only 14 months before it collapsed in on itself. To increase the efficiency of labor on plantations, labor from Africa was transported to La Floride beginning in 1606 although the practice would not yet be popular.

Spanish colonization in the New World was also underway. Mexico City was considered the heart of New Spain, given it was where the Spanish conquered the Aztecs in 1519 under the leadership of Hernando Cortez. It did not take long for settlers to slowly move north. The first major settlement north of Mexico City was Guadalajara, founded in 1531. Between 1540 and 1542, Spanish Conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado explored large swathes of the North American west, sailing up the Colorado River and eventually reaching the Great Plains. This led to a gradual expansion further north until the creation of the Kingdom of Santa Fe de Nuevo México in 1598 and the founding of its capital, Santa Fe, in 1610. The other major area of focus for Spanish colonization was none other than Florida. While there had been an effort to colonize their sphere of influence in the western half of the Floridian peninsula, it became more pronounced in 1606 with the creation of the Mission San Francisco de Potano. Soon, more missions sprung up across the region. Among the Huguenots in the region, there were fears of a potential Spanish invasion. There were some occasional skirmishes between the Spanish and French in Florida plus a few attempted invasions by the Spanish, but by 1616 it looked like the Spanish would not be successful in destroying French Florida given that they lacked the manpower and that their priorities primarily laid in creating missions in the west to block the Huguenots.

The English, like the French and Spanish, were busy at work with their colonization of North America. The most noted English explorer in this current era was Henry Hudson. Thrice did he engage in an expedition for the English to find the Northwest Passage to Asia, and once for the Dutch. In 1607, the Muscovy Company of London gave Hudson financial backing to find an ice-free passage to Asia. He made two voyages to the Arctic near the Svalbard archipelago before turning back without success. Hudson, fortunately, gained support from the Dutch East India Company to lead a third expedition in 1609. Hudson heard reports of two rumored channels across North America to the Pacific. One was located near latitude 62° N and another around latitude 40° N speculated by an English captain named John Smith. After landing at Newfoundland, he traveled down the Atlantic coast to a river discovered by Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524 before turning back 150 miles in. The river was named for Hudson. Finally, after word got out about his discoveries, the British East India Company and the Muscovy Company jointly funded the fourth voyage. He sailed from London in April 1610 with the ship Discovery. He traversed the coast sailing through an inlet that was described as a potential entry point to the northwest passage. After it opened up, he soon discovered he was in a huge bay. The harsh winter and no outlet in sight caused Hudson’s crew to cast him overboard in June 1611 and he was never heard of ever again.

Back in England, religion was a major source of internal tension. The official religion was the Anglican Church or Church of England. This was solidified when the Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy 1558, declaring Elizabeth the head of the Church of England and the state of England and requiring anyone taking office to swear allegiance to the Queen. Separating from Catholicism, King James I ordered the translation of the Bible into English in contrast to the traditional Latin, which was published in 1611. In much of the 17th century, there was a conflict within the Anglican Church and politics swung back and forth between the Puritans who sought greater Protestant reforms and conservatives who aimed to keep closer to traditional Catholicism. A group of Puritans, known as Separatists, decided that the only solution to cleanse the Anglican church of Catholic influence was to separate entirely from the Church of England and form their own congregations, which were done in secret. However, they were caught and then persecuted and hunted down until their safety was in jeopardy. In 1607, Francois de Coligny of the French Huguenot colony of La Floride secretly invited the Seperatists to their colony and a group came over in 1608. By 1610, La Floride had between 9,000 and 10,000 Huguenots and up to 1,500 others from which the Separatists were part. In 1617, though, the hot climate, disease, and their children becoming too French led them to decide to leave, but where would they decide to go?

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Chapter Nine: The English, the Dutch, and The Fight for Henry Hudson

When the Separatists decided to leave La Floride in 1617, they immediately recognized their options. The two that immediately came to mind were the Caribbean islands or somewhere in Virginia, with the latter being preferred because of its nearby location, greater security and trade opportunity, and far fewer tropical diseases. William Bradford soon sent Robert Cushman and John Carver were sent to England to solicit a land patent to settle near the North Bay region, with a plan allaying their concerns of social, political, and religious conflicts, but still having the benefits of being close to an established colony. Negotiations were delayed because of internal conflict within the London Company, but a patent was secured in June 1619. A charter was granted in exchange for the Separatists giving up the right for their religion to receive official recognition. Operations stalled for some time because of the London Company’s continued ongoing problems. English merchant Thomas Weston proposed to resolve these delays by suggesting a settlement north of Virginia proper, in New Plymouth (what he called New England) but this was rejected as both the Separatists negotiators and London Company came to the understanding that it was intended for the area explored by Henry Hudson to be claimed before the Dutch could establish themselves. Amid all this, William Brewster was in Scotland entangled in religious unrest caused by the promulgation of the Five Articles of Perth.

Of course, not everyone in the congregation could depart due to the long travel and limited supply budget. It was decided that the initial settlers primarily be the younger and stronger members of the congregation, with the remainder agreeing to follow later if possible. John Robinson would remain in La Floride with the larger portion of the congregation, and William Brewster was to lead the rest to Virginia. Membership would be automatically granted for members who moved between either the Floride or Virginia locations. Two ships were procured, one for bringing some number of passengers over to North Bay (plus for fishing and support services) and another for transport and exploration services. With everything settled, the ships embarked in July 1620 with 120 passengers and sighted land on August 15. After believing they reached the mouth of the North River, they learned this was not their intended landing spot though, as turbulent winds shifted their path to the east. However, they confirmed that the area they landed at was a small island near a much bigger island (which was later determined to be Lange Eylant), also within the boundaries of Virginia. After surveying the area, they attempted to sail towards the North River but the ship was anchored at the island on September 6, 1620. They named the small island they landed on Plymouth Island. They soon moved to the larger island and named their area Plymouth. With help from the Natives, the Pilgrims survived the winter but a third of them did not.

The English were far from the only ones vying for control over the mouth of the North River. The Dutch had been on the radar since 1609 with the voyage of the Halve Maen to the area headed by Henry Hudson. Hudson named the River the Mauritius River (later renamed the North River). Instead of finding the Northwest Passage for the Dutch East Indian Company as originally intended, he brought back intrigue about the possibility of Dutch beaver exploitation in the region. In Europe, beaver pelts were highly prized because they were used to make waterproof hats. An additional byproduct of beaver pelts trade in beaver pelts was the castoreum gland which was used for medicine and perfumes. Between 1611 and 1614, another set of expeditions by Dutch Navigator Adriaen Block resulted in the surveying and charting of the region between the 38th and 45th parallels. On the map created in 1614, the newly discovered and mapped territory was named New Netherland. The year 1614 was significant because the Dutch set up their first year-round trading post in New Netherland at Fort Nassau, almost 150 miles from the Mouth of North Bay, along with the Block being the first European to navigate the Hellegat and to enter The Devil’s Belt. From there, he entered the River of Red Hills and the Fresh River, reaching the eventual location of Huys de Hoop. He went on to charter Block Island and reached the Narragansett Bay, where it is speculated named the area "Roode Eylandt" after the red clay soil color on its beaches.

The heart of New Netherland, of course, was New Amsterdam. New Netherland was a private, profiteering enterprise aimed at cementing trade alliances with various Native American ethnic groups. This would be no different for what would soon become New Amsterdam. After months of surveying and exploration of the region, the mouth of the North River was selected as the most optimal place settlement as it had easy access to the ocean while also being ice-free. In 1621, After the Dutch West India Company was founded in 1621, orders were given for private traders to vacate in order to open up the territory for the Dutch and for the law of Holland to apply. In May 1624, thirty families of settlers bound for New Netherland arrived on Noten Eylandt on the ship New Netherland commanded by Cornelius Jacobsen May, some dispersed to other nearby areas but most stayed within the vicinity. A fort and sawmill were constructed at Noten Eylandt. By the end of 1625, a site had been staked out for the Dutch at the lower end of Manhattan Island for a more permanent settlement at the discretion of New Netherland director Willem Verhulst. This would be named Fort Amsterdam or New Amsterdam. Tribal warfare in the North River Valley led the Dutch West India Company to relocate even more settlers to Fort Amsterdam. Ultimately, colonization was so expensive that it led to a scaling back of the original plans by 1628 and the Dutch realized they had to step up their colonization game soon.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Ahead of the new update, here is a map of La Florida circa 1630 or so. It's far from perfect so I apologize.

 

[PGSBHurricane]

Chapter Eleven: Great Migration, Great Growth, and Great Progress

The 1620s and 1630s was a period of key development in the European colonization of North America, particularly for European powers outside the Iberian Peninsula. Up until then, colonization was seen as experimental in nature and a huge risk considering the nervousness from a high likelihood of failure. For all Europeans, the primary goals of colonization were finding gold and glory in the form of profit, trying to discover a passage to the Pacific Ocean to reach the East Indies, and converting the indigenous peoples to Christianity. There were also additional motives for each European power. For the English at Little Egg Harbor and the colony of Upper Virginia as a whole to the tip of Cape May, the settlements were established with the goal to harass Spanish shipping. In the Outer Banks and Lower Chesapeake Bay region (which took over as the most important area of Lower Virginia by 1619), there was an additional emphasis on what essentially amounted to the thrill of adventure and simply starting a new life from nothing in the Old World. For the Separatist Puritans at Plymouth and Plymouth Island, it was a matter of avoiding religious persecution. This was likewise true for the French Huguenots who had initially escaped to Charlesfort and have continued since 1562. For the Catholic French, their motives were creating trade posts for the lucrative fur trade and trade with the natives while some French Missionaries came along to help conversion to Catholicism.

Following the success of the Virginia and Plymouth Colonies, several more English groups established colonies in the region that became known as New England. In 1622, the new Council of New England (the de facto successor of the Plymouth Company) created a new charter to allow the creation of fishing colonies near Plymouth. The first was 35 km west of Plymouth on the southern shores of the Devil’s Belt. A second project, called Fishers Island (or Vischer’s Island), was founded with backing from the Dorchester Company about 40 kilometers away. While there was success with fishing, it was not conducive for farming so it was relocated in 1626 to the northern side of The Devil’s Belt and was named Nameaug or “Fish country.” A third colony was founded on Block Island, which was arguably the most successful. Soon, a new wave of colonists came to the area, most of whom were Puritans who believed they needed to purify the Church of England away from England. In 1628, the Council for New England (which included investors from the former Dorchester Company) issued a land grant for territory within 3 miles of the Pequot and Quinebaug Rivers to the west and Narragansett Bay in the east. A new charter issued by Charles I superseded the land grant and established a legal basis for the new English colony. Under the governorship of John Winthrop, a flotilla set sail from England in April 1630 with 700 colonists and landed their ship on the waters of Narragansett Bay in Roode Eylandt.

The 1620s were a tumultuous time in France for the Huguenots, as the three Huguenot rebellions, sometimes called the Rohan War, were raging at this period. The first Huguenot rebellion was triggered in 1620 by the re-establishment of Catholic rights and the military annexation of Béarn to France in 1620 and replacing the government with one where only Catholics could sit. Huguenots gathered at La Rochelle on December 25, 1620, where a decision was taken to defy the Crown wherever they could. In 1621, Louis XIII moved to eradicate the rebellion, climaxing in the Siege of Nègrepelisse in 1622 where all its population was massacred. The Treaty of Montpelier put an end to those hostilities, but a second rebellion broke out in February 1625 when Fort Louis (near La Rochelle) was fortified. The city of La Rochelle voted to support this in August, but it was soon crushed. The Treaty of Paris (1626) preserved Huguenot religious freedom but imposed restrictions such as the prohibition of a naval fleet in La Rochelle. The third rebellion was sparked by English intervention which encouraged upheaval against the French Monarchy. The English, led by George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, landed on Île de Ré in June 1627 before unsuccessfully sieging Saint-Martin-de-Ré. The English retreated and the French Royalists sieged La Rochelle where residents resisted for over a year before an unconditional surrender. With the Peace of Alais, the Huguenots were left to the mercy of the monarchy.

The 1620s and 1630s marked a great migration for both French Huguenots and English colonists (particularly Puritans). With the Puritans, more than 20,000 came to present-day New England, with most arriving in southern New England. The Huguenots saw a similar level of migration to La Floride in response to the Huguenot rebellions of the 1620s and the aftermath of the Peace of Alais. In 1631, there were approximately 18,000 Huguenots in La Floride, matching the Huguenot population of La Rochelle. In 1628, 33 families established the town of La Nouvelle-Rochelle over 80 km away from Charlesfort. As more Huguenots arrived, Dutch and German farmers emigrated either back to Europe or to New Netherland. Unfortunately, a growing number of African slaves took their place in not only La Floride, but the North American colonies as a whole. This was particularly notorious in the Caribbean after the 1630s when the Dutch brought sugarcane from their South American colonies to the Caribbean Sea. In 1623, the English began colonizing the West Indies in earnest with St. Christopher (Saint Kitts) followed by Barbados in 1627 (which would be used as a base for English colonization). That in turn was followed by Nevis in 1628, Antigua and Montserrat in 1632, and this would just be the beginning. Meanwhile, the French too colonized St. Kitts and split the island with the English in 1625, using their part as a base to colonize the larger Guadalupe and Martinique in 1635 and eventually other Caribbean possessions.