Joara

Joara was a major Indigenous town and the centre of a Mississippian chiefdom in the upper Catawba Valley, near the foothills of the Blue Ridge. Its large settlement included an earthen mound and was ruled by a regional leader, or mico. Hernando de Soto's expedition passed through the country in 1540, followed a generation later by another Spanish expedition under Juan Pardo.

In January 1567 Pardo renamed Joara Cuenca after his Spanish hometown and built Fort San Juan beside it, leaving thirty men to occupy the place. The fort was intended to extend the colony of Santa Elena inland and support a route toward the silver mines of northern Mexico. The soldiers remained for nearly eighteen months. In 1568 the people of Joara attacked and destroyed the fort, ending Spain's attempt to establish a permanent foothold in this interior country.