1565: The Founding of St. Augustine by the Spanish Empire
Yesterday marks the 455th anniversary that Europeans permanently settled in what was to become the contiguous United States. The city of St. Augustine was founded by Spanish explorers in 1565, and lies on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. The city owes its name to the coastline being sighted by the Spanish Explorers on August 28, the feast day of St. Augustine. The only older city in American territory is that of San Juan, Puerto Rico, which was founded forty-four years earlier in 1521.
St. Augustine owes its existence to the Spanish Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, who would later became the first governor of Florida. The Admiral was dispatched by the Spanish Crown to what is now Jacksonville. His mission was to destroy the French outpost of Fort Caroline and eliminate the presence of the Huguenot French, which the Spanish considered to be heretics. Once this was complete, he was charged to fully explore and settle the region as a bastion of Spanish might.
The French acted to prevent the Spanish incursion at the newly established St. Augustine, but unfortunately for the French the initial naval engagement was indecisive. The subsequent engagement saw the French forces ravaged by a squall and effectively destroyed as a fighting force. Stealing a march on his foes, Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés moved to…
