Two ships carrying five to six hundred…

Two ships carrying five to six hundred French soldiers and Huguenots dispatched by Admiral Gaspard de Coligny establish a colony, to the great displeasure of the Catholic Portuguese in Brazil, at the site of present Rio de Janeiro in 1555.

Led by French admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, who desires to help the Huguenots find a refuge against persecution, the settlers occupy one of the islands of Guanabara Bay, now called Villegagnon Island.

Villegagnon builds Fort Coligny on the island when attempting to establish the France Antarctique colony.

To the still largely undeveloped mainland village, Villegaignon gives the name of Henriville, in honor of Henry II, the King of France, who also had known of and approved the expedition, and has provided the fleet for the trip.

Villegaignon secures his position by making an alliance with the Tamoio and Tupinambá Indians of the region, who are fighting the Portuguese.

The French crown will fail, however, to make good use of Villegaignon's exploits to expand the reach of the French kingdom into the New World, as is being done at this time with the claims of Jacques Cartier in the present-day province of Québec, Canada.

All of these settlements are in violation of the Papal bull of 1493, which had divided the New World between Spain and Portugal, a division defined more exactly in 1494 by the Treaty of Tordesillas.