1600s - Georgia becomes the "debatable land"
While Spain and France had been the primary claimants to the land that is now Georgia, England also had staked a claim based on 1497 and 1498 explorations by John Cabot. English ships raided Spanish ships and settlements in various parts of the New World, culminating with Sir Francis Drake sacking and burning St. Augustine in 1586. Finally in the early 1600s England began establishing colonies of their own, beginning with Jamestown in 1607.
Meanwhile, the Spanish were trying to re-establish their line of missions in what is now Georgia; many had been destroyed or abandoned during the Juanillo rebellion of 1597.
1663 With some colonies well established to the north, the British established the colony of Carolina in 1663, claiming the 31st parallel as its southern boundary (this is Georgia's current southern boundary), later extending that claim southward to the 29th parallel. This claim included all of what is now Georgia.
1670 Charles Town (later Charleston) was settled. Carolina traders soon began trading with the Indians along the Savannah River, angering the Spanish.
1673 French explorers sailed south down the Mississippi River, eventually reaching the Gulf of Mexico. Once this had been accomplished, they began trading with the Indians and trying to extend French influence eastward.
1680 The English attacked the Spanish mission on St. Catherines Island. The Spanish were able to hold off the attack, but then retreated to a more secure locataion on Sapelo Island. Because of English threats, Indian attacks, and general unsuccessful attempts at converting the Indians, all Spanish missions had been abandoned by 1685, though the Spanish still claimed the land.
So by 1700 three countries - England, Spain, France - all had laid claim to the land that is now Georgia; it was called "the debatable land."