Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
Encyclopedia
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (15 February 1519 – 17 September 1574) was a Spanish
admiral
and explorer, best remembered for founding St. Augustine
, Florida in 1565. This was the first successful Spanish foothold in La Florida
and remained the most significant city in the region for several hundred years. St. Augustine is now the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the Continental United States. Menéndez subsequently became the first governor of Spanish Florida
.
Menéndez made his career as a sailor in the service of the king. His first plans for a voyage to Florida revolved around searching for his son, Juan, who had been shipwrecked there in 1561. However, following the founding of Fort Caroline
in present-day Jacksonville by French
Huguenot
s under René Goulaine de Laudonnière
, he was commissioned to conquer the peninsula as Adelantado
. He established St. Augustine in 1565, and later took over Fort Caroline and displaced the French. Firmly established as governor, Menéndez turned his focus to exploring the area and establishing further fortifications. He returned to Spain in 1567 and was also appointed governor of Cuba
. He made one further trip back to Florida. He died in 1574.
s of the great Armada de la Carrera Spanish Treasure Fleet
on their voyage from the Caribbean and Mexico to Spain. He was appointed by King Philip II
of Spain, who chose him as Captain General, and his brother Bartolomé Menéndez as Admiral, of the Fleet of the Indies. When he had delivered the treasure fleet to Spain, he asked permission to go back in search of one lost vessel, which had contained his son, other relatives, and friends. However, the crown repeatedly refused his request.
In 1565, however, the Spanish decided to eliminate the new French
colony of Fort Caroline
, located in what is now Jacksonville
, Florida, in territory previously claimed by Spain. The crown approached Menéndez to fit out an expedition to Florida on the condition that he explore and colonize the region as King Philip's adelantado
, and eliminate the Huguenot
French, whom the Catholic Spanish considered to be dangerous heretics.
Menéndez was in a race to reach Florida with the French captain Jean Ribault
, who was on a mission to secure Fort Caroline. The two navies met in a brief skirmish off the coast, but it was not decisive. On 28 August 1565, the feast day of St. Augustine of Hippo, Menéndez's crew finally sighted land. They landed shortly after to found the settlement they named St. Augustine
. The settlement was founded in the former Timucua
village of Seloy, and to this day, the locals of St. Augustine claim that it was here that Menéndez held the first Catholic mass in what is now the continental United States.
A French attack on St. Augustine was thwarted by a violent squall that ravaged the French naval forces. Taking advantage of this, Menéndez marched his troops overland to Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River
, about 30 miles north. The Spanish easily overwhelmed the lightly defended French garrison, which had been left with only a skeleton crew of 20 soldiers and about 100 others, killing most of the men and sparing about 60 women and children. The Spanish placed a sign over the survivors of the attack, which said: "Not as to Frenchmen, but as to heretics". Renaming the fort San Mateo, Menéndez marched back to St. Augustine, where he discovered that the shipwrecked survivors from the French ships had come ashore to the south of the settlement. A Spanish patrol encountered the remnants of the French force, and took them prisoner. Menéndez accepted their surrender, but then executed all of them except a few professing Catholics and some Protestant workers with useful skills, at what is now known as Matanzas Inlet
(Matanzas is Spanish
for "slaughters"). The site is very near the national monument Fort Matanzas, built in 1740-1742 by the Spanish.
ports. He was appointed Captain-General of the Spanish treasure fleet in 1554, when he sailed out with the Indies fleet and brought it back safely to Spain. This experience 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' 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, defeat the French ships there. Due to a lack of food and the religion of the defeated French (Protestant), Menéndez ordered that the survivors of Fort Caroline be killed. The slaughter of these men led to the area of their execution being called 'Matanzas' ('Massacre' or 'Slaughters'). The Spanish later built a fort on the site of Fort Caroline, which was destroyed and the Spanish there massacred by the French in 1568. With the coast of Florida now firmly in Spanish hands, he then set to work finishing the construction of a garrison in St. Augustine, establishing missions to the natives for the Catholic Church, and exploring the east coast and interior of the peninsula.
in Sevilla had appointed the Captain General in the past. Phillip II and Menéndez maintained a close relationship, Menéndez was even invited to be a part of the Royal Party when Phillip married Mary I, Queen of England.
Menéndez was the chief planner of the formalized Spanish treasure fleet
convoy system that was to be the main link between Spain and her overseas colonies. He was also the designer, in partnership with Álvaro de Bazán, of the great galleon
s that were employed to carry the trade between Cadiz in Spain and Vera Cruz in Mexico
.
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's use of his new wife as a hostage in negotiations with her people, as well as his negotiating with the Calusa's enemies, the Tocobaga
s, contributed to a decline to all out war, which continued intermittently into the next century. Menéndez was unsuccessful in locating his son Juan.
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
before returning to Florida, where he 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.
In December of 1571, Menéndez was sailing from Florida to Havanna with two frigates when, as he tells it, "I was wrecked at Cape Canaveral because of a storm which came upon me, and the other boat was lost fifteen leagues further on in the Bahama Channel, in a river they call the Ais
, because the cacique is so called. I, by a miracle reached the fort of St. Augustine with seventeen persons I was taking with me. Three times the Indians gave the order to attack me, and the way I escaped them was by ingenuity and arousing fear in them, telling them that behind me many Spaniards were coming who would slay them if they found them."
The Ais, like the Tequesta
and Calusa tribes, proved hostile to Spanish settlement as war continued on and off until 1670.
Menéndez later made contact with the less hostile Tequesta at their capital in el Portal
(Miami) 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 Tequesta 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. He died in Santander
on 17 September 1574.
, and María Alonso y Menéndez Arango.
His parents had twenty children, and Pedro was still a child when his father died. When Doña Maria remarried, the boy was sent to live with a relative who promised to oversee his education.
Pedro and his guardian did not get along, and he ran away from home. He was found six months later in Valladolid
and taken back to his foster home. Eventually he went off to fight in one of the wars with France, serving in a small armada against the French corsairs who harassed the maritime commerce of Spain.
After two years of fighting he returned to his people, having conceived a plan to use part of his inheritance to build his own vessel. He built a patache, a small but fast row-sailer, suitable for patrolling the coast. He was then able to persuade a number of his relatives to sail with him in search of adventure.
It was in this little ship that the youthful Menéndez won his first victory of command – this happened in an engagement with French corsairs who attacked three slow Spanish freighters off the coast of Galicia. Through daring and resourceful cunning he separated the two swift zabras ( Biscayan frigates) that pursued him and captured them both, and drove away the third.
The exploits of the fearless Pedro Menéndez soon became a topic of conversation on the waterfronts of Spain and France, and even in the royal courts themselves.
The Seville merchants and the associated Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) were chagrined by the success of Menéndez' adventures and his growing influence with the Crown. In 1561 he was jailed by Casa officials for alleged smuggling but he was able to get his case transferred to court.
Philip II was alarmed when he received the report of the Spanish spy, Dr. Gabriel de Enveja, that a French expedition of ships, soldiers and supplies was being fitted for a voyage to Florida at Dieppe. More than 500 arquebusiers and many dismounted bronze cannons were loaded aboard; Jean Ribault had secured for himself the title of "Captain-General and Viceroy of New France".
Having already won a contract from the Spanish king as Florida adelatando, and standing to receive a large land grant and the title of marquis if he was successful in his commission, Menéndez was now available to serve.
He advised the king of the strategic importance of exploring the Florida coast for discovery of trade passages to the riches of China and Molucca, waterways that might lead to the mines of New Spain and the Pacific, and the settling of several towns to defend the territory against incursions by the Indians and foreign powers.
Menéndez expected to make vast profits for himself and to increase the royal treasury with this Florida enterprise, which was to include the development of agriculture, fisheries, and naval stores.
His ambitious venture was supported materially and politically by his kinship alliance of seventeen families from northern Spain, tied by blood relations and marriage, who pledged their persons and their fortunes to the adelantado. Of course, they hoped to enrich themselves with lands and royal honors of civil and military offices in La Florida.
Supported by this familial elite of partners who shared his vision of enlarged estate and prestige, Menéndez was served by loyal lieutenants and officials who had blood connection with him and who had invested their futures in his success.
on State Road 206 in Saint Johns County is named after him, as well as several streets in the area.
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
and explorer, best remembered for founding St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
, Florida in 1565. This was the first successful Spanish foothold in La Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and remained the most significant city in the region for several hundred years. St. Augustine is now the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the Continental United States. Menéndez subsequently became the first governor of Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida
Spanish Florida refers to the Spanish territory of Florida, which formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and the Spanish Empire. Originally extending over what is now the southeastern United States, but with no defined boundaries, la Florida was a component of...
.
Menéndez made his career as a sailor in the service of the king. His first plans for a voyage to Florida revolved around searching for his son, Juan, who had been shipwrecked there in 1561. However, following the founding of Fort Caroline
Fort Caroline
Fort Caroline was the first French colony in the present-day United States. Established in what is now Jacksonville, Florida, on June 22, 1564, under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière, it was intended as a refuge for the Huguenots. It lasted one year before being obliterated by the...
in present-day Jacksonville by French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
s under René Goulaine de Laudonnière
René Goulaine de Laudonnière
René Goulaine de Laudonnière was a French Huguenot explorer and the founder of the French colony of Fort Caroline in what is now Jacksonville, Florida...
, he was commissioned to conquer the peninsula as Adelantado
Adelantado
Adelantado was a military title held by some Spanish conquistadores of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.Adelantados were granted directly by the Monarch the right to become governors and justices of a specific region, which they charged with conquering, in exchange for funding and organizing the...
. He established St. Augustine in 1565, and later took over Fort Caroline and displaced the French. Firmly established as governor, Menéndez turned his focus to exploring the area and establishing further fortifications. He returned to Spain in 1567 and was also appointed governor of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. He made one further trip back to Florida. He died in 1574.
Florida
In 1560, Menéndez commanded the galleonGalleon
A galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with the demi-culverin type of cannon.-Etymology:...
s of the great Armada de la Carrera Spanish Treasure Fleet
Spanish treasure fleet
The Spanish treasure fleets was a convoy system adopted by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to 1790...
on their voyage from the Caribbean and Mexico to Spain. He was appointed by King Philip II
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
of Spain, who chose him as Captain General, and his brother Bartolomé Menéndez as Admiral, of the Fleet of the Indies. When he had delivered the treasure fleet to Spain, he asked permission to go back in search of one lost vessel, which had contained his son, other relatives, and friends. However, the crown repeatedly refused his request.
In 1565, however, the Spanish decided to eliminate the new French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
colony of Fort Caroline
Fort Caroline
Fort Caroline was the first French colony in the present-day United States. Established in what is now Jacksonville, Florida, on June 22, 1564, under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière, it was intended as a refuge for the Huguenots. It lasted one year before being obliterated by the...
, located in what is now Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, Florida, in territory previously claimed by Spain. The crown approached Menéndez to fit out an expedition to Florida on the condition that he explore and colonize the region as King Philip's adelantado
Adelantado
Adelantado was a military title held by some Spanish conquistadores of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.Adelantados were granted directly by the Monarch the right to become governors and justices of a specific region, which they charged with conquering, in exchange for funding and organizing the...
, and eliminate the Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
French, whom the Catholic Spanish considered to be dangerous heretics.
Menéndez was in a race to reach Florida with the French captain Jean Ribault
Jean Ribault
Jean Ribault was a French naval officer, navigator, and a colonizer of what would become the southeastern United States. He was a major figure in the French attempts to colonize Florida...
, who was on a mission to secure Fort Caroline. The two navies met in a brief skirmish off the coast, but it was not decisive. On 28 August 1565, the feast day of St. Augustine of Hippo, Menéndez's crew finally sighted land. They landed shortly after to found the settlement they named St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
. The settlement was founded in the former Timucua
Timucua
The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the...
village of Seloy, and to this day, the locals of St. Augustine claim that it was here that Menéndez held the first Catholic mass in what is now the continental United States.
A French attack on St. Augustine was thwarted by a violent squall that ravaged the French naval forces. Taking advantage of this, Menéndez marched his troops overland to Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...
, about 30 miles north. The Spanish easily overwhelmed the lightly defended French garrison, which had been left with only a skeleton crew of 20 soldiers and about 100 others, killing most of the men and sparing about 60 women and children. The Spanish placed a sign over the survivors of the attack, which said: "Not as to Frenchmen, but as to heretics". Renaming the fort San Mateo, Menéndez marched back to St. Augustine, where he discovered that the shipwrecked survivors from the French ships had come ashore to the south of the settlement. A Spanish patrol encountered the remnants of the French force, and took them prisoner. Menéndez accepted their surrender, but then executed all of them except a few professing Catholics and some Protestant workers with useful skills, at what is now known as Matanzas Inlet
Matanzas Inlet
Matanzas Inlet is a channel in Florida between barrier islands connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the south end of the Matanzas River. It is south of St. Augustine, in the southern part of St. Johns County, at coordinates...
(Matanzas is Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
for "slaughters"). The site is very near the national monument Fort Matanzas, built in 1740-1742 by the Spanish.
Military
Menéndez is credited as the Spanish leader who first surveyed and authorized the building of the royal fortresses at major CaribbeanCaribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
ports. He was appointed Captain-General of the Spanish treasure fleet in 1554, when he sailed out with the Indies fleet and brought it back safely to Spain. This experience assured him of the strategic importance of the Bahama Channel
Old Bahama Channel
The Old Bahama Channel is a strait off the northern coast of Cuba and the Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago and south of the Great Bahama Bank. It is approximately long and wide....
and the position of Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
as the key port to rendezvous the annual Flota of treasure galleons.
Menéndez' military experience allowed him to surprise and destroy the French outpost of Fort Caroline
Fort Caroline
Fort Caroline was the first French colony in the present-day United States. Established in what is now Jacksonville, Florida, on June 22, 1564, under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière, it was intended as a refuge for the Huguenots. It lasted one year before being obliterated by the...
on the St. Johns River
St. Johns River
The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...
, and with the help of a storm, defeat the French ships there. Due to a lack of food and the religion of the defeated French (Protestant), Menéndez ordered that the survivors of Fort Caroline be killed. The slaughter of these men led to the area of their execution being called 'Matanzas' ('Massacre' or 'Slaughters'). The Spanish later built a fort on the site of Fort Caroline, which was destroyed and the Spanish there massacred by the French in 1568. With the coast of Florida now firmly in Spanish hands, he then set to work finishing the construction of a garrison in St. Augustine, establishing missions to the natives for the Catholic Church, and exploring the east coast and interior of the peninsula.
Treasure fleet
Pedro Menéndez de Aviles was appointed Captain General of the Fleet of the Indies in 1554 by King Phillip II of Spain. This position carried great honor, and it was an unusual appointment as the Casa de ContrataciónCasa de Contratación
La Casa de Contratación was a government agency under the Spanish Empire, existing from the 16th to the 18th centuries, which attempted to control all Spanish exploration and colonization...
in Sevilla had appointed the Captain General in the past. Phillip II and Menéndez maintained a close relationship, Menéndez was even invited to be a part of the Royal Party when Phillip married Mary I, Queen of England.
Menéndez was the chief planner of the formalized Spanish treasure fleet
Spanish treasure fleet
The Spanish treasure fleets was a convoy system adopted by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to 1790...
convoy system that was to be the main link between Spain and her overseas colonies. He was also the designer, in partnership with Álvaro de Bazán, of the great galleon
Galleon
A galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with the demi-culverin type of cannon.-Etymology:...
s that were employed to carry the trade between Cadiz in Spain and Vera Cruz in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
Later years
Menéndez traveled to Southwest Florida, looking for his son. There he made contact with the CalusaCalusa
The Calusa were a Native American people who lived on the coast and along the inner waterways of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region; at the time of European contact, the Calusa were the people of the Caloosahatchee culture...
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's use of his new wife as a hostage in negotiations with her people, as well as his negotiating with the Calusa's enemies, the Tocobaga
Tocobaga
Tocobaga was the name of a chiefdom, its chief and its principal town during the 16th century in the area of Tampa Bay. The town was at the northern end of what is now called Old Tampa Bay, an arm of Tampa Bay that extends northward between the present-day city of Tampa and Pinellas County...
s, contributed to a decline to all out war, which continued intermittently into the next century. Menéndez was unsuccessful in locating his son Juan.
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
St. Catherines Island
St. Catherines Island, also known as Santa Catalina, is one of the Sea Islands or Golden Isles on the coast of the U.S. state of Georgia, 50 miles south of Savannah in Liberty County. The island is ten miles long and from one to three miles wide, located between St. Catherine's Sound and Sapelo...
before returning to Florida, where he expanded Spanish power throughout southeastern Florida. In 1567, he marched south encountering the Ais
Ais (tribe)
The Ais, or Ays were a tribe of Native Americans who inhabited the Atlantic Coast of Florida. They ranged from present day Cape Canaveral to the St. Lucie Inlet, in the present day counties of Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie and northernmost Martin...
(Jece) as he reached the Indian River
Indian River (Florida)
The Indian River is a waterway in Florida, a part of the Indian River Lagoon system which forms the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It extends southward from the Ponce de Leon inlet in New Smyrna Beach, Florida [Volusia County] southward and across the "Haulover Canal" and along the western shore...
near present-day Vero Beach.
In December of 1571, Menéndez was sailing from Florida to Havanna with two frigates when, as he tells it, "I was wrecked at Cape Canaveral because of a storm which came upon me, and the other boat was lost fifteen leagues further on in the Bahama Channel, in a river they call the Ais
Ais (tribe)
The Ais, or Ays were a tribe of Native Americans who inhabited the Atlantic Coast of Florida. They ranged from present day Cape Canaveral to the St. Lucie Inlet, in the present day counties of Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie and northernmost Martin...
, because the cacique is so called. I, by a miracle reached the fort of St. Augustine with seventeen persons I was taking with me. Three times the Indians gave the order to attack me, and the way I escaped them was by ingenuity and arousing fear in them, telling them that behind me many Spaniards were coming who would slay them if they found them."
The Ais, like the Tequesta
Tequesta
The Tequesta Native American tribe, at the time of first European contact, occupied an area along the southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida...
and Calusa tribes, proved hostile to Spanish settlement as war continued on and off until 1670.
Menéndez later made contact with the less hostile Tequesta at their capital in el Portal
El Portal, Florida
El Portal is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The village name is derived from the Spanish phrase for "the gate," after two wooden gates that once stood as a gateway to the village. The population was 2,505 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S...
(Miami) 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 Tequesta 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. He died in Santander
Santander, Cantabria
The port city of Santander is the capital of the autonomous community and historical region of Cantabria situated on the north coast of Spain. Located east of Gijón and west of Bilbao, the city has a population of 183,446 .-History:...
on 17 September 1574.
Family
According to "La Florida:, siglo XVI, descubrimiento y conquista”, de María Antonia Sainz, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was born to an ancient family of illustrious nobles in the old kingdom of Asturias. He was one of the younger sons of Juan Alfonso Sánchez de Avilés, who had served the Catholic Kings in the war of GranadaGranada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
, and María Alonso y Menéndez Arango.
His parents had twenty children, and Pedro was still a child when his father died. When Doña Maria remarried, the boy was sent to live with a relative who promised to oversee his education.
Pedro and his guardian did not get along, and he ran away from home. He was found six months later in Valladolid
Valladolid
Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...
and taken back to his foster home. Eventually he went off to fight in one of the wars with France, serving in a small armada against the French corsairs who harassed the maritime commerce of Spain.
After two years of fighting he returned to his people, having conceived a plan to use part of his inheritance to build his own vessel. He built a patache, a small but fast row-sailer, suitable for patrolling the coast. He was then able to persuade a number of his relatives to sail with him in search of adventure.
It was in this little ship that the youthful Menéndez won his first victory of command – this happened in an engagement with French corsairs who attacked three slow Spanish freighters off the coast of Galicia. Through daring and resourceful cunning he separated the two swift zabras ( Biscayan frigates) that pursued him and captured them both, and drove away the third.
The exploits of the fearless Pedro Menéndez soon became a topic of conversation on the waterfronts of Spain and France, and even in the royal courts themselves.
The Seville merchants and the associated Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) were chagrined by the success of Menéndez' adventures and his growing influence with the Crown. In 1561 he was jailed by Casa officials for alleged smuggling but he was able to get his case transferred to court.
Philip II was alarmed when he received the report of the Spanish spy, Dr. Gabriel de Enveja, that a French expedition of ships, soldiers and supplies was being fitted for a voyage to Florida at Dieppe. More than 500 arquebusiers and many dismounted bronze cannons were loaded aboard; Jean Ribault had secured for himself the title of "Captain-General and Viceroy of New France".
Having already won a contract from the Spanish king as Florida adelatando, and standing to receive a large land grant and the title of marquis if he was successful in his commission, Menéndez was now available to serve.
He advised the king of the strategic importance of exploring the Florida coast for discovery of trade passages to the riches of China and Molucca, waterways that might lead to the mines of New Spain and the Pacific, and the settling of several towns to defend the territory against incursions by the Indians and foreign powers.
Menéndez expected to make vast profits for himself and to increase the royal treasury with this Florida enterprise, which was to include the development of agriculture, fisheries, and naval stores.
His ambitious venture was supported materially and politically by his kinship alliance of seventeen families from northern Spain, tied by blood relations and marriage, who pledged their persons and their fortunes to the adelantado. Of course, they hoped to enrich themselves with lands and royal honors of civil and military offices in La Florida.
Supported by this familial elite of partners who shared his vision of enlarged estate and prestige, Menéndez was served by loyal lieutenants and officials who had blood connection with him and who had invested their futures in his success.
Legacy
Pedro Menendez High SchoolPedro Menendez High School
Pedro Menendez High School is a public high school in the St. Johns County School District, located in southern St. Johns County, Florida . It was named for Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, a sixteenth century Spanish admiral and pirate hunter who founded St...
on State Road 206 in Saint Johns County is named after him, as well as several streets in the area.