<P> The area of the modern city of Jacksonville has been inhabited for thousands of years . On Black Hammock Island in the national Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, a University of North Florida team discovered some of the oldest remnants of pottery in the United States, dating to 2500 BC . In the 16th century, the beginning of the historical era, the region was inhabited by the Mocama, a coastal subgroup of the Timucua people . At the time of contact with Europeans, all Mocama villages in present - day Jacksonville were part of the powerful chiefdom known as the Saturiwa, centered around the mouth of the St. Johns River . One early map shows a village called Ossachite at the site of what is now downtown Jacksonville; this may be the earliest recorded name for that area . </P> <P> French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault charted the St. Johns River in 1562, calling it the River of May because that was the month of his discovery . Ribault erected a stone column at the site, claiming the newly discovered land for France . In 1564, René Goulaine de Laudonnière established the first European settlement, Fort Caroline, on the St. Johns near the main village of the Saturiwa . Philip II of Spain ordered Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to protect the interest of Spain by attacking the French presence at Fort Caroline . On September 20, 1565, a Spanish force from the nearby Spanish settlement of St. Augustine attacked Fort Caroline, and killed nearly all the French soldiers defending it . The Spanish renamed the fort San Mateo, and following the ejection of the French, St. Augustine's position as the most important settlement in Florida was solidified . The location of Fort Caroline is subject to debate but a reconstruction of the fort was established on the St. Johns River in 1964 . </P> <P> Spain ceded Florida to the British in 1763 after the French and Indian War, and the British soon constructed the King's Road connecting St. Augustine to Georgia . The road crossed the St. Johns River at a narrow point, which the Seminole called Wacca Pilatka and the British called the Cow Ford; these names ostensibly reflect the fact that cattle were brought across the river there . The British introduced the cultivation of sugar cane, indigo and fruits, as well the export of lumber . As a result, the northeastern Florida area prospered economically more than it had under the Spanish . Britain ceded control of the territory to Spain in 1783, after being defeated in the American Revolutionary War, and the settlement at the Cow Ford continued to grow . After Spain ceded the Florida Territory to the United States in 1821, American settlers on the north side of the Cow Ford decided to plan a town, laying out the streets and plats . They soon named the town Jacksonville, after Andrew Jackson . Led by Isaiah D. Hart, residents wrote a charter for a town government, which was approved by the Florida Legislative Council on February 9, 1832 . </P> <P> During the American Civil War, Jacksonville was a key supply point for hogs and cattle being shipped from Florida to feed the Confederate forces . The city was blockaded by Union forces, who gained control of nearby Fort Clinch . Though no battles were fought in Jacksonville proper, the city changed hands several times between Union and Confederate forces . In the Skirmish of the Brick Church in 1862, Confederates won their first victory in the state . However, Union forces captured a Confederate position at the Battle of St. Johns Bluff, and occupied Jacksonville in 1862 . Slaves escaped to freedom in Union lines . In February 1864 Union forces left Jacksonville and confronted a Confederate Army at the Battle of Olustee, going down to defeat . </P>

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