Question: Which European country built Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River in 1564?
Answer: France. René de Goulaine de Laudonnière landed about 200 colonists near the mouth of the St. Johns and named the place La Caroline, after King Charles IX—a French claim on Spanish-held Florida and a refuge for Huguenots. Spain answered by founding St. Augustine, then sending Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to take the fort in the fall of 1565, killing most of the settlers he found. The exact site has never been located; what stands in Jacksonville today is a model built from drawings made by artists who sailed with the 1564 expedition.
