To aggravate the economic problems, the colony was almost never at peace. The peninsula could not be properly explored; as late as 1599 there was uncertainty over whether or not it was an island. Throughout the Habsburg era there were two fluctuating frontiers with enemies on the other sides, for, converted or not, Florida Indians saw no reason to halt their seasonal warfare. From the south, Ais, Jeaga, Tocobaga, Pocoy, and Carlos warriors raided the Hispanicized Indians; Chisca Chichimeco, Chacato, Tasquique, and Apalachicolo peoples were some of the enemies to the north and northwest. The coasts were no safer. In 1563, trading and raiding corsairs conducting an undeclared war were driven by Spanish patrols from the Antilles to the periphery of the Caribbean: the Main, the Isthmus, and Florida. The French crisis of 1565-68 was followed by the Anglo-Spanish War of 1585-1603 and the Dutch War of 1621-48. Meanwhile, Floridians watched with foreboding the rival settlements of Virginia, Barbados, and after 1655, Jamaica. When Charles Town was founded in 1670 they pleaded for help to drive off the colonies before there were too many, but the crown’s hands were tied by a peace treaty, and its reaction—the building of a fort, the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine—was essentially defensive. (Bushnell KC)