St. Augustine America\u27s first city : a story of unbroken history & enduring spirit.

St. Augustine\u27s history is a compelling tale of exploration, adaptation, innovation and enduring spirit. Founded in 1565 by Spanish conquistador Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, the settlement remained part of Spain\u27s vast overseas empire for more than two hundred years. Its earliest residents endured periods of food shortages, pirate raids, sieges, fires and floods. Yet the city survived, supported by a remarkably diverse population of Europeans, Africans, both free and enslaved, and Native Americans. Together, they forged the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in the continental United States. They constructed churches, taverns, mills, markets, military garrisons and fortresses. The iconic Castillo de San Marcos, built at the end of the seventeenth century, is the oldest stone fortress built anywhere in the continental United States