Joara

Joara, in the foothills of western North Carolina near present-day Morganton, was a major Native American town and regional center of the Mississippian world established after AD 1000. Recorded by Hernando de Soto’s expedition in 1540 as Xuala, it later became the site of Fort San Juan, built by Captain Juan Pardo in January 1567 as the earliest known European settlement in North Carolina’s interior. Spanish efforts to use it as a base for inland expansion quickly collapsed after a regional uprising destroyed the fort and five others in 1568. Archaeology has since confirmed Joara’s importance as a rare meeting point of indigenous and early Spanish history.

Morganton, North Carolina · United States