Editing Duval County, Florida (section)

==History==
The area was settled by varying cultures of [[indigenous peoples]] for thousands of years before European contact. Within the [[Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve]] in [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]], [[archeologists]] excavated remains of some of the oldest pottery in the United States, dating to 2500 BCE. Prior to [[European colonization of the Americas|European contact]], the area was inhabited by the [[Mocama]], a [[Timucua language|Timucuan]]-speaking group who lived throughout the coastal areas of northern Florida.<ref>[http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/10/25/out_553144.shtml Matt Soergel, "Archaeologists help distinguish Mocama group"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213061148/http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/10/25/out_553144.shtml |date=December 13, 2013 }}, Morris News Service, October 25, 2009, accessed May 11, 2010</ref> At the time Europeans arrived, much of what is now Duval County was controlled by the [[Saturiwa]], one of the region's most powerful tribes. The area that became Duval County was home to the 16th-century [[France|French]] colony of [[Fort Caroline]] and saw increased European settlement in the 18th century with the establishment of [[Cowford]], later renamed [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]].

Duval County was created in 1822 from [[St. Johns County, Florida|St. Johns County]]. It was named for [[William Pope Duval]], [[Governor of Florida|Governor]] of [[Florida Territory]] from 1822 to 1834.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ |title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States |publisher=Govt. Print. Off. |author=Gannett, Henry |year=1905 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n110 111]}}</ref> When Duval County was created, it covered a massive area, from the [[Suwannee River]] on the west to the Atlantic Ocean on the east, north of a line from the mouth of the Suwannee River to [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]] on the [[St. Johns River]]. [[Alachua County, Florida|Alachua]] and [[Nassau County, Florida|Nassau]] counties were created out of parts of Duval County in 1824. [[Clay County, Florida|Clay County]] was created from part of Duval County in 1858. Part of St. Johns County south and east of the lower reaches of the St. Johns River was transferred to Duval County in the 1840s.<ref>Fernald, Edward A., Ed. (1981) ''Atlas of Florida''. The Florida State University Foundation, Inc. {{ISBN|0-9606708-0-7}} P.131<br>[http://fcit.usf.edu/Florida/maps/county/alachua/alachua.htm Alachua County Maps]<br>[http://fcit.usf.edu/Florida/maps/county/nassau/nassau.htm Nassau County Maps]<br />[http://fcit.usf.edu/Florida/maps/county/clay/clay.htm Clay County Maps]</ref>

<gallery>
File:2 Duval.jpg|Portrait of [[William Pope Duval]]
File:Courthouse1894JAX.jpg|Duval County Courthouse in 1894
File:Jacksonville in 1909.PNG|Jacksonville in 1909
File:JaxFederalCourthouse.jpg|[[Bryan Simpson United States Courthouse]] in 2008.
File:Girls In The Surf At Sunset (255499033).jpeg|[[Jacksonville Beach, Florida|Jacksonville Beach]] in 2018.
</gallery>