Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Charleston sc territory claimed by england

The territory which he gave had not always been
claimed by England; indeed, its very name "Carolina"
had been given a hundred years before, by a luckless band
of French Huguenots sent by the great Admiral Coligny
to find a refuge for "men of the religion' in the New
World. They, led by the Sieur Jean Ribault, had landed
at the " fair entrance ' to which they gave the name of
Port Royal. Delighted with the beauty and fertility of
the country, they claimed and named it for their king,
Charles IX. of France ; built a fort and raised the
French flag. But misfortune overtaking them, they
abandoned the place, only to be done to death by the
Spaniards at St. Augustine,—dying for their faith and
scorning to abjure.
In the reign of Charles II. a ruined fort, a broken
column carved with the fleur-de-lys, and the names " Carolina
" and " Port Royal" alone remained to tell the tale.
The country had, for nearly a century, "lain like a
derelict' to be taken by the first comer, so England
stepped in and claimed it for her own. There were
many difficulties and delays, but the Proprietors sent
exploring expeditions, on one of which a bold captain,
Robert Sandford, coasting along from the Cape Fear to
Port Royal, landed and " took seizin by turtle and twigge'
of the territory in the name of the King and realm of
England.

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