Jean ribaut explorer biography for kids

Jean Ribault (also spelled Ribaut) (1520 – October 12, 1565) was a French naval officer, navigator, and a colonizer of what would become the southeastern United States.

He was a major figure in the French attempts to colonize Florida. A Huguenot and officer under Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, Ribault led an expedition to the New World in 1562 that founded the outpost of Charlesfort on Parris Island in present-day South Carolina.

Two years later, he took over command of the French colony of Fort Caroline in what is now Jacksonville, Florida.

Jean ribaut explorer biography for kids pictures

He and many of his followers were massacred by Spanish soldiers near St. Augustine.

Biography

Early life and first colony

Ribault was born in the town of Dieppe in Normandy in 1520. He entered the French navy under the command of the Huguenot admiral Gaspard de Coligny.

In 1562 Coligny chose him to lead an expedition to the New World to found a colony. Leaving France on February 18 with a fleet of 150 colonists,