Ten weeks after setting sail from Spain, on the feast day of St. Augustine in 1565, Pedro Menendez de Aviles saw land. When the admiral came ashore two weeks later on Sept. 8, he claimed the site for his country and named it for the towering Catholic theologian on whose day it appeared across the water.
Thus begins the story of the northeast Florida settlement that outlasted the rest to become the oldest continuously inhabited city in the continental U.S. Before the British — and later the independent states — overran their newfound landmass, the Spanish carved out a corner for themselves in a bid to guard their Caribbean interests. Historians of this abiding and stunningly diverse community lament that nowadays it’s a mere side note in the American saga.
“When you look at St. Augustine, the story changes,” says Michael Francis, of the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. “You start to appreciate the long-term history in a way that isn’t dominated by this English narrative that is so prevalent.”
