For God, Glory and Gold: Early French and Spanish Conquest of South Carolina, Part 1 of 4
This program recounts the history of the French and Spanish efforts to colonize South Carolina in the 16th century. The focus is on two important settlements located on the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island, near Beaufort. Historians relate the dramatic history of these settlements and document the conflict between France and Spain for this coast more than 100 years before Charleston was founded by the English in 1670. Archaeologists describe how they have uncovered the remains of both settlements, providing insight into the occupation and ultimate abandonment of these important colonial outposts.A co-production of South Carolina ETV and the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina. Production was funded, in part, by a grant from the South Carolina Humanities Council.
Archaeologist Dr. Chester DePratter and historians Bertrand van Ruymbeke, Amy Bushnell, Paul Hoffman, and Eugene Lyon relay the history of the early explorers from France and Spain who landed in various places along what is now known as the Southeast coast of the United States, including the coast of South Carolina.
in August 1669, three ships departed from England headed toward Port Royal Sound. After stopping in Barbados, they landed on the South Carolina coast in March 1670, and built their first town on Albemarle Point near present-day Charleston. These English colonists were not the first to settle in South Carolina. More than a century earlier, two other European nations fought for control over the same stretch of coastline, called La Florida by Spaniards and Breton by the French. Learn more about explorations made by the French explorer, Ribaut, who settled at Port Royal, and named the fort Charlesfort, after his king, Charles IX. Ribaut left volunteers to defend the harbor and set sail for France for supplies. The men left behind suffered great hardship. A mutiny followed and the captain was killed. The men at Charlesfort built a small boat with the help of local Indians and set sail for France. Their food ran out and they resorted to cannibalism. The boat eventually reached the English coast. So the first French attempt to settle the coast of La Florida failed.
Soon a second French voyage was set to depart for Florida, led be La Donnier in April, 1564. This expedition landed below St. Augustine, and on the River May, today St. John's River, rather than returning to Port Royal Sound. The story continues with more settlements in additional locations, including Fort Caroline.
