French Outpost, Port Royal Island | History of SC Slide Collection

The English were not the first Europeans to send explorers among the Carolina coastal tribes. First the Spanish, then the French, had preceded them. This 16th century engraving is of the French outpost in the Beaufort area on Port Royal Island. The French Huguenots who settled there in 1562, on an expedition led by Jean Ribaut, called the fortification there "Charles Fort," in honor of their young King Charles; Ribaut named the river "Port Royal." Ribaut left a small group behind and sailed to France to recruit more settlers. The engraving is based on drawings made by Jacques LeMoyne de Morgues, an artist who was part of the French expedition that returned to the area in 1565.

Courtesy of the Charleston Museum, Charleston, South Carolina.

Standards

• This indicator was written to promote inquiry into the unique development of ethnic, political, and religious identities in the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern colonies.
  • This indicator was developed to promote inquiry into how European colonization impacted the interaction among African, European, and Native American cultural groups.