Pedro Menéndez de Avilés

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (February 15, 1519 - September 17, 1574), was a sixteenth century Spanish admiral and pirate hunter, known most notably for his founding of St. Augustine, Florida and his subsequent destruction of the French settlement of Fort Caroline in 1565. The first Spanish governor of Spanish Florida, he founded St. Augustine, the first permanent European settlement and oldest port city in what is now the continental United States, on August 28, 1565.

Explorations

Born in Avilés, (Asturias, Spain), Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was about forty-six years old when he had risen to the highest rank in the Spanish navy; he was a man of means with a huge family fortune; an Hidalgo. In 1554, he commanded the royal galleon which bore his king, Philip II of Spain, to England to wed Queen Mary; and in 1561, he commanded the great treasure-fleet of galleons on their voyage from Mexico to Spain. When he had delivered the fleet in Spain, he asked permission to go back in search of one lost vessel, but was then refused. This was the vessel where he lost his son and other family and friends. However after a lengthy delay, his request was granted only on the condition that he would explore and colonize "La Florida" as King Philip II's "adelantado". He fitted out an expedition for the purpose at his own expense. When he was about to sail, orders came to him from the king to find and wipe out all Protestant (Lutheran) interlopers he might find there, or in whatever corner of the Indies he should find them.

Military

Don Pedro is credited as the Spanish leader who first surveyed and authorized the building of the royal fortresses at major Caribbean ports. He was appointed Captain-General of itthe Armada de la Carrera in 1554 when he sailed out with the Indies fleet and brought it back safely to Spain. The experience he gained assured him of the strategic importance of the Bahama Channel and the position of Havana as the key port to rendezvous the annual 'Flota' of treasure galleons.

Menéndez de Avilés' brilliant military experience, allowed him to surprise and destroy the French outpost of Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River and, with the help of a storm, also defeat the French fleet there. Due to a lack of foodstuffs and the religion of the defeated French (many were Protestants), Menéndez de Avilés ordered that the survivors of Fort Caroline be put to the sword. The slaughter of these men led to the area of their execution being called 'Matanzas' or 'Massacre'. With the coast of Florida now firmly in Spanish hands, he then set to work finishing building and leaving a garrison in St. Augustine, establishing missions to the natives for the Catholic Church, and exploring the east coast and interior of the peninsula.

Later years

Menéndez traveled to Southwest Florida, where he made contact with the Calusa tribe, an advanced maritime people. He negotiated an initial peace with their leader, King Carlos, which was solidified by Menéndez' marriage to Carlos' sister, who took the baptismal name Doña Antonia. The peace was uneasy, and Menéndez' use of his new wife as a hostage in negotiations with her people, as well as his negotiating with the Calusas' enemies, the Tocobagas, contributed to a decline to all out war, which continued intermittently into the next century.

Establishing a Spanish garrison of 200 men further up the coast, he sailed to the Georgia coast making contact with the local Indians of St. Catherines Island [ [http://www.glynncounty.com/History_and_Lore/Ed_Green/spanish_missions.shtml The Spanish missions] ] before returning to Florida and expanded Spanish power throughout southeastern Florida. In 1567, he marched south encountering the Ais (Jece) as he reached the Indian River near present day Vero Beach. The Ais, like the Tekesta and Calusa tribes, proved hostile to Spanish settlement as war continued on and off until 1670. [ [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/Tekesta/history/part6.html History of the Tekesta - Part 6. Late Contact Period (1565 to the Present)] .]

He later made contact with the less hostile Tekesta at their capital in el Portal and was able to negotiate for three chieftains to accompany him to Cuba as translators to the Arawak. Although Menéndez left behind Jesuit missionaries Brother Francisco de Villareal and Padre Rogel in an attempt to convert the Tekesta to Roman Catholicism, the tribe were indifferent to their teachings and the Jesuits returned to St. Augustine after a year. Eventually reaching Cuba, he was appointed as governor of the island shortly after his arrival. Consequently, the absence of Menéndez would see Spain's military presence in the region decay to the extent that the British began moving into the region by the end of the century. He eventually died in Santander on September 17, 1574.

Pedro Menendez High School on State Road 206 in Saint Johns County is named after him, as well as several streets in the area.

In 2005, Menendez was featured the "Conquest of the Southeast" episode of The History Channel's documentary miniseries "Conquest of America".

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