Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519–1574) founded St. Augustine in 1565. His expedition was documented by his brother-in-law, Gonzalo Solís de Merás, who left a detailed and passionate account of the events leading to the establishment of America’s oldest city. Until recently, the only extant version of Solís de Merás’s record was one single manuscript that Eugenio Ruidíaz y Caravia transcribed in 1893, and subsequent editions and translations have always followed Ruidíaz’s text. In 2012, David Arbesú discovered a more complete record: a manuscript including folios lost for centuries and, more important, excluding portions of the 1893 publication based on retellings rather than the original document. In the resulting volume, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and the Conquest of Florida, Arbesú sheds light on principal events missing from the story of St. Augustine’s founding. By consulting the original chronicle, Arbesú provides readers with the definitive bilingual edition of this seminal text.

The life and adventures of the founder of St. Augustine, whose ambition drove him to pursue adventure and conquest.

A biography of the Spanish seaman and explorer who established a colony at St. Augustine and claimed former French lands in Florida for Spain.

In 1564, the French attempted to establish a colony, calling it Fort Caroline, along the May River (now St. Johns River). The original site is has been lost. Here, Thornton uses histories, documents, and maps in an effort to locate the elusive Fort Caroline, and to determine if it might be located in Georgia or Florida, which has been historically debated.

An insider's record of the St. Augustine Civil Rights drama.