Duval County

Duval County is a county located in the State of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 864,263, with a 2015 estimate at 913,010. Its county seat is Jacksonville, with which the Duval County government has been consolidated since 1968. Duval County was established in 1822, and is named for William Pope Duval, Governor of Florida Territory from 1822 to 1834.Duval County is included in the Jacksonville, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area.HistoryThis area had been settled by varying cultures of indigenous peoples for thousands of years before European contact. Within the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve in Jacksonville, archeologists have excavated remains of some of the oldest pottery in the United States, dating to 2500 BCE. Prior to European contact, the area was inhabited by the Mocama, a Timucuan-speaking group who lived throughout the coastal areas of northern Florida. At the time Europeans arrived, much of what is now Duval County was controlled by the Saturiwa, one of the most powerful tribes in the region. The area that became Duval County was home to the 16th-century French colony of Fort Caroline, and saw increased European settlement in the 18th century with the establishment of Cowford, later renamed Jacksonville.