Welcome to the History of the Americans podcast, episode 27.

This episode is Charles Fort and the massacre at Fort Caroline, and I'm recording it in Austin, Texas on June 25, 2021.

This is often the case.

Music for the writing of this episode is courtesy of W.W.O.Z.

In New Orleans.

The now familiar art for the logo of the History of the Americans podcast comes from the corner of an engraving by the great

Theodore DeBri, who depicted the exploration of North America in a series of extraordinary

works of art in the late 1500s. The logo comes from one of several engravings that carry the caption

Promontory of Florida, at which the

French touched, which we know to be Fort Caroline, the subject of the second part of this episode.

So every episode of the history of the Americans has pointed in a way at this one.

This is also a shout-out to my graphic designing daughter, Emma,

who found DeBry's work and designed the podcast logo on short notice back in December.

I'll put a link to DeBry's art in the show notes in case you want, as you should, to see more of it.

Last time we looked at the geopolitical and evangelical objectives for the

settlement of Florida and the hapless mission of Tristan de Luna. Not only was Luna supposed to

establish a permanent colony at Pensacola, but he was also ordered to march across Florida into

South Carolina and build a base at Paris Island, or thereabouts,

on the Atlantic coast. He failed at both. Spain would not return to Pensacola for more than a century,

but the Atlantic coast remained strategically important. In 1559, Spain's network of spies had turned up evidence that French Protestants

were preparing to set up a colony at Paris Island, or thereabouts. Spain's King Philip

II understandably viewed the French plans as offensive to Spain's claim in North America,

...