September 8, 1565Reputable sourceWell documented
St. Augustine Founded
On the timeline · around September 8, 1565 ·
What happened
The Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine in Florida in 1565, decades before any lasting English colony. It is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in what is now the continental United States.
Why it matters
St. Augustine is a reminder that America's colonial roots are Spanish as well as English, and that the deep South and Southwest carry a Hispanic heritage older than Jamestown or Plymouth.