Brief City History:

Population: 934,477

Jacksonville, Florida has a long history that goes back to the Timucuan Indians who lived in the area along the banks of the St. Johns River 6,000 years ago. The first Europeans came in 1562. French Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault explored and charted the St. Johns River. René Goulaine de Laudonnière established the first European settlement at Fort Caroline two years later. Fort Caroline is about halfway between present day Jacksonville and the Atlantic Ocean. In 1565, Spanish soldiers from nearby St. Augustine attacked Fort Caroline, and killed nearly all the French soldiers defending it. The Spanish renamed it Fort San Mateo. After the massacre of the French forces at Fort Caroline, St. Augustine's position as the most important settlement in Florida was solidified. The first settlement near what is now downtown Jacksonville was founded in 1791. It was called Cowford because of its location at a narrow point in the river where cattle once crossed. In 1822, a year after the United States acquired colonial Florida from Spain, the city was renamed for Andrew Jackson. Jackson, known as "Old Hickory", was the first military governor of the Florida Territory. He later became President of the United States. The Jacksonville town charter was approved by the Florida Legislative Council on February 9, 1832. Jacksonville was actually a town in Florida before Florida was a state.