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France Antarctique

Villegagnon's Huguenot-and-Catholic colony on an island in Guanabara Bay, a fleeting French foothold beside future Rio de Janeiro.

Fort Coligny was destroyed by Mem de Sá's Portuguese forces in 1560; the last French were finally expelled from Guanabara Bay in 1567, two years after the Portuguese founded Rio de Janeiro (1565).

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Moments from the Chronicle

• 1555 France Antarctique Villegagnon plants a French Huguenot colony in Guanabara Bay, beside the future Rio de Janeiro.
• 1567 French expelled from Guanabara Mem de Sá's forces win the Battle of Guanabara Bay (20 January 1567), expelling the last French and ending France Antarctique.
• 1567 Battle of Uruçumirim shatters the Tamoio After more than a decade of war (1554–67) in which the Tamoio Confederation of Guanabara Bay allied with French France Antarctique, an earlier Jesuit-brokered truce — the Peace of Iperoig (1563) — collapses; Estácio de Sá founds São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro (1 March 1565) and, aided by the Temiminó chief Araribóia, storms the last French and Tamoio strongholds at Paranapuã and Uruçumirim on 20 January 1567, breaking Tamoio power.

Further reading

• A History of Brazil E. Bradford Burns · 1970

  Recounts Villegagnon's French colony in Guanabara Bay and its destruction by Mem de Sá (broad colonial context).

• A Concise History of Brazil Boris Fausto · 1998

  Covers the French Guanabara foothold beside future Rio de Janeiro (broad context).

Sources

• France Antarctique — Wikipedia