Capture of Fort Caroline (1565)

Fort Caroline National Memorial marks the site of a French Huguenot colony established in 1564 and the 1565 capture of that fort by Spanish forces led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. After seizing the fort, Spanish forces pursued and killed many French colonists at nearby Matanzas Inlet. The memorial preserves interpreted earthworks, exhibits, and archaeological information about this early European colonial battle in northeastern Florida. The site interprets one of the earliest recorded armed conflicts between European powers in what is now the United States.