Ribault, Jean (1520?-1565) - a French explorer who in 1562 built Ft. Charles at the site of present-day Port Royal, South Carolina. He left the settlement, which the colonists then abandoned, and returned to France. Returning to America in 1562 he took command of the French settlement at Ft. Caroline in Florida on the St. Johns River. In that same year the Spanish captured Ribault and stabbed him to death.
