GEORGIA
Franciscan Monks arrive in 1524. The first European settlement was in present day Georgia, San Miguel de Gualdape, Founded and settled by Spain. The last pre-historic cultural development in North America was the Mississippian Culture, thriving from approximately 800 AD until the arrival of European explorers.
| The Mississippian Culture spanned from Wisconsin and Minnesota in the north, through Georgia to the south, and westward into the Great Plains. These people enjoyed an intricate system of trading, were accomplished craftsmen, and practiced sophisticated religious beliefs. Chief Priests governed their fortified towns. These leaders lived in temples atop large earthen mounds overlooking a central ceremonial plaza. Lesser leaders might also live on mounds, but the tallest would be for the temple of the Chief Priest. Upon the death of the Chief Priest, his temple would be destroyed and another layer of earth would be added for his successor. Ones social standing would be reflected in how close his home was to the plaza. Although the Mississippian people, particularly the Chief Priests, were of significantly larger physical stature than the Europeans explorers who encountered them, they had no immunities to the explorers' diseases. |  |
Forts became the first settlements in the New World. It was important to build these forts so the planters would have protection from the weather and any hostile Indians.
Towns were subordinate to other towns with more powerful Chief Priests; thus confederacies were established. Etowah was a capital city in this river floodplain. Most pre-1350 BC moundbuilder artifacts come from a 25-mile radius of the Poverty Point site. About that time trade began with other areas, including Georgia. Artifacts from that era contain rock and minerals identified as coming from Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains, however, no corresponding evidence has been found in Georgia that a trading relationship existed with these early moundbuilders. Other areas that can be specifically identified geologically from artifacts include Lake Superior, western Arkansas, southern Ohio and Tennessee.
There were a few Spanish settlements along the coast, north of Florida, in the 16th and early 17th century but what is now Georgia was originally just the southern portion of the Carolina grant. Hoping to provide a second chance for adventurous members of the English under class, King George II, in 1732, granted Georgia to James Edward Oglethorpe, an English general. In addition to its lofty social goals the new Colony was also intended to provide additional protection for its northern colonial partners. Prior to Oglethorpe and his party settling the area in 1733, Fort King George was the only English occupation in the area. The Fort, which was established in 1721, was the Southern-most post in the Colonies and was situated to provide a buffer against Spanish and French intrusion from the South.
 | In 1738, General Oglethorpe brought a large military contingent to Georgia and the following yeare his troops provided a strong showing against the Spanish in King George's War (the War of Austrian Succession in Europe). General Oglethorpe led his men into St. Augustine and although they were not able to obtain a victory there, when the Spanish sailed into Georgia seeking retaliation two years later, he and his soldiers were able to drive the Spanish back to Florida for, what turned out to be, the last time. One of the Southern Colonies, Georgia started out as a Proprietary colony but eventually became a Royal colony in 1752. |  |