In 1510 explorers from Spain were the first to land at Jekyll Island, naming it "Isla De Ballenas" (Whale Island). Later Juan Ponce de León was appointed as the civil governor of this and Spain's other claimed North American territories. In 1562 French explorer Jean Ribault claimed the island for France and renamed it as "Ille de la Somme." Ribault later surrendered to the Spanish and was executed. The two countries engaged in competition and armed confrontations along the Georgia and Florida coasts. After his army swiftly defeated the French, Philip II of Spain immediately had a colony established on Jekyll.