Huguenot

The Huguenots (/ˈhjuːɡənɒt/ or /huːɡəˈnoʊ/;, ) were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. French Protestants were inspired by the writings of John Calvin in the 1530s, and they were called Huguenots by the 1560s. By the end of the 17th century and into the 18th century, roughly 300,000 Huguenots had fled France during a series of religious persecutions. They relocated to Protestant nations, such as England, Denmark, Switzerland, the Dutch Republic, the Electorate of Brandenburg, Electorate of the Palatinate (both in the Holy Roman Empire), and the Duchy of Prussia, and also to the Dutch Cape Colony in present-day South Africa and the English 13 colonies of North America.