The cause of the conflict between the two colonies was the construction of an English blockhouse, Fort King George, on the banks of the Altamaha River near present-day Darien, Georgia. The Floridians looked upon the fort as an encroachment on the Spanish domain, a repudiation of the solemn English pledge to respect Georgia as Spanish territory. The Spanish claimed the territory by right of papal donation, prior discovery, prior exploration, effective occupation, and the Treaty of Madrid of 1670 by which England and Spain established boundaries on the southern frontier. The English, however, refused to recognize any of these Spanish claims. During the last three decades of the 17th century they drove the Franciscans out of their Guale missions and turned Georgia into a “debatable land.” (Tepaske GSF)