Pedro Menéndez de Avilés facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
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Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
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| 1st Governor of Florida | |
| In office 1565–1574 |
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| Succeeded by | Diego de Velasco |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 February 1519 Avilés, Asturias, Spain |
| Died | 17 September 1574 (aged 55) Santander, Cantabria, Spain |
| Occupation | Admiral; 16th-century colonial governor of La Florida and Cuba, in New Spain |
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (born February 15, 1519 – died September 17, 1574) was a Spanish admiral, explorer, and conquistador (a Spanish conqueror). He came from Avilés, a town in Asturias, Spain. He is famous for two main things:
- He planned the first regular system for ships to cross the ocean, which became known as the Spanish treasure fleet. These fleets carried valuable goods from the Americas back to Spain.
- He founded St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565. This was the first successful European settlement in what was then called La Florida. St. Augustine is the oldest city in the continental United States that has been lived in continuously since Europeans settled it.
Menéndez de Avilés was also the first governor of La Florida from 1565 to 1574. The King of Spain, Philip II, gave him a special contract called an asiento. This contract made Menéndez an adelantado (a military governor of a frontier region). His job was to build forts to defend the Spanish lands in La Florida and to set up Spanish government in important areas.
Contents
A Young Adventurer: Early Life
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was born into an old noble family in Asturias, Spain. He was one of many children. His father died when Pedro was still young.
After his mother remarried, Pedro went to live with a relative who was supposed to help him with his education. But Pedro didn't get along with his guardian and ran away from home. He was found six months later and brought back. Later, Menéndez joined the military. He fought at sea against French corsairs (pirates) who were bothering Spanish trade ships.
A Career at Sea: Military and Trade
After two years of fighting, Menéndez returned home. He used some of his family money to build his own ship. It was a patache, a small but fast ship that was good for patrolling the coast. He convinced some of his relatives to join him on his adventures.
In this ship, young Menéndez won his first battle. He fought French pirates who had attacked three slow Spanish cargo ships near Galicia. He was a skilled captain. He managed to separate and capture two of the pirate ships and scare off a third. Soon, people in Spain and France, and even in the royal courts, were talking about Pedro Menéndez's brave actions. However, some merchants in Seville and the Casa de Contratación (House of Trade), which controlled Spanish trade, were not happy about Menéndez's success and his growing influence with the King.
Leading the Treasure Fleet
Menéndez is known for being the first Spanish leader to plan and approve the building of royal forts in major Caribbean ports. In 1554, the King made him Captain-General of the Fleet of the Indies, also known as the Spanish treasure fleet. He successfully led the fleet to the Americas and brought it back safely to Spain. He strongly believed that the Bahama Channel was very important for shipping. He also thought that Havana, a port in Cuba, was the best place for the yearly treasure galleons to meet up. This was a very important job, and it was unusual for the King to choose someone directly for it. Usually, the Casa de Contratación controlled this position.
King Philip II and Menéndez had a close relationship. The King even invited him to be part of the royal group when Philip married Mary I, Queen of England.
In 1559, Philip II again made Menéndez Captain General of the Fleet of the Indies. His brother, Bartolomé Menéndez, was made Admiral. Menéndez sailed to the Americas that October. He commanded the large galleons of the Spanish Treasure Fleet on their return trip from the Caribbean and Mexico to Spain. Menéndez decided the route they would take. It went through the Florida Strait and up the east coast of Florida, using the strong current of the Gulf Stream. In 1561, Menéndez was briefly held by officials from the Casa de Contratación for supposedly smuggling goods. But he took his case to court and was released.
Menéndez is seen as the main planner of the official Spanish treasure fleet convoy system. This system became the most important link between Spain and its lands overseas. He also helped design the large galleons that carried goods between Cadiz in Spain and Vera Cruz in Spanish Mexico.
Later, as an adelantado, Menéndez had to explore the huge territory of La Florida. This land stretched from the Gulf coast of western Florida all the way to Newfoundland. The King also ordered him to build two or three fortified presidios (military forts) and settle them with people and slaves. He was also told to start converting the Native Americans to Catholicism.
The Florida Adventure
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In 1562, a group of Huguenots (French Protestants) led by Jean Ribault arrived in the area Spain called La Florida. They explored the mouth of the St. Johns River in Florida. The French then sailed north and built a settlement called Charlesfort in what is now South Carolina.
In 1563, Pedro Menéndez was imprisoned by the Casa de Contratación. He was accused of taking bribes and smuggling silver. While in prison, he learned that his son, Admiral Juan Menéndez, had disappeared. His son's ship, La Concepción, was lost in a hurricane off the coast of South Carolina. Menéndez wanted to go to La Florida to search for his son, but he couldn't do anything from prison. His requests to King Philip II were not answered.
Spain found out about the French expedition to Florida through spies. King Philip II was worried when he heard that Jean Ribault had been named "Captain-General and Viceroy of New France." He also learned that a large French expedition was preparing to sail to Florida.
After Menéndez was released from prison, he was ready to serve the King again. He was appointed adelantado of La Florida. He was promised a large land grant and the title of marquis if he succeeded. He told the King that exploring the Florida coast was important for finding trade routes to China and other rich lands. He also suggested settling several areas to protect the territory from Native Americans and other European countries.
Menéndez hoped to make a lot of money for himself and for the royal treasury with this Florida project. It was planned to include farming, fishing, and naval supplies. Many families from northern Spain, who were related to him, supported this big plan. They promised their help and money, hoping to get land and royal titles in La Florida later. This support gave Menéndez a loyal group of officers who were connected to him by blood and had invested their own futures in his success.
In early 1564, Menéndez again asked to go to Florida to search for his son, who had been lost in 1563. The King continued to refuse his request.
René de Laudonnière, a Huguenot nobleman, returned to Florida in 1564 with three ships and 300 Huguenot settlers. He reached the River May on June 22, 1564, and founded Fort Caroline. (The city of Jacksonville later grew in this area.) The Spanish King was worried about these French settlements so close to the route of the Spanish treasure fleet.
To protect its lands in North America, the Spanish Crown gave Menéndez a new asiento on March 20, 1565. This contract gave him wide trade rights, the power to give out land, and permission to sell 500 slaves. It also gave him various titles, including adelantado of Florida. Menéndez was ordered to explore North America from the Florida Keys to what is now Canada. He was to report on the coast and establish a permanent settlement to defend the Spanish treasure fleet. He was also told to remove any intruders who were not subjects of the Spanish crown.
On July 28, 1565, Menéndez sailed from Cádiz with a fleet. His main ship, the San Pelayo, was 600 tons. He had several smaller ships and over 1,000 sailors, soldiers, and settlers. On August 28, the feast day of St. Augustine, the fleet saw land. They anchored near the tidal channel that the French called the River of Dolphins. This became the site of the city of St. Augustine. Menéndez sailed north and had a short fight with Ribault's fleet. On September 6, he returned to his first landing spot. He named the site after the Catholic saint, landed his troops, and quickly built defenses to protect his people and supplies.
Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales, the expedition's chaplain, held the first Thanksgiving Mass there. The Franciscan outpost, Mission Nombre de Dios, was founded at the landing point. This was possibly the first mission in the continental United States. The mission served nearby villages of the Mocama, a Timucua group.
Menéndez marched his soldiers overland from St. Augustine to destroy the French settlement at Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River. On September 20, 1565, they launched a surprise attack. They killed everyone in the fort except for the women and children; 132 Frenchmen were killed. Menéndez left a Spanish group at the captured fort, which he renamed San Mateo. (In 1568, French soldiers returned and destroyed it, killing the Spanish soldiers there in revenge for the 1565 attack.)
Menéndez then went after Jean Ribault. Ribault had already left with four ships to attack the Spanish at St. Augustine. But a storm surprised Ribault at sea, wrecking three of his ships. His main ship landed near what is now Cape Canaveral. Native American allies told Menéndez that the French survivors were walking north along the coast. Menéndez found them at the south entrance of the Matanzas River. After talking with the Spanish, Ribault and his 150-350 Frenchmen surrendered. The Spanish executed almost all of them in the sand dunes near the inlet. This place later became known as Matanzas (which means "slaughters" in Spanish). After taking control of the Florida coast, Menéndez had his soldiers finish the fort in St. Augustine. He also set up missions for the Catholic Church to work with the Native Americans. He explored the east coast and the inside of the Florida peninsula.
In May 1566, relations with the nearby Timucua Native Americans got worse. Menéndez moved the Spanish settlement to a better defensive spot on the north end of the barrier island between the mainland and the sea. He built a wooden fort there. In 1572, the settlement was moved back to the mainland, just south of where the town plaza would be. As governor, Menéndez explored the area and built more fortifications.
He also sent the Juan Pardo expedition. This group traveled from Santa Elena, in what is now South Carolina, into the interior of the Southeast. Captain Pardo was supposed to find and supply an overland route to the Spanish silver mines in central Mexico. The Spanish wrongly thought the Appalachian Mountains were part of a range that reached that far. Over the next couple of years, Pardo and his men traveled into present-day South Carolina and Western North Carolina. They stopped at the Mississippian town of Joara, where they built Fort San Juan and stayed for the winter. In total, his expedition built six forts along this route. In 1568, almost all the Spanish men in these forts were killed by Native Americans who resisted their presence, and the forts were destroyed. The Spanish did not try to settle this region again.
Believing he had completed his main tasks for the King, including building forts along the coast of La Florida, Menéndez returned to Spain in 1567. He was appointed governor of Cuba in October of that year. After several more trips across the Atlantic Ocean, Menéndez became sick and died on September 17, 1574.
Exploring Florida's Interior
Menéndez traveled to southwest Florida, still looking for his son. There, he met the Calusa tribe, who were skilled people of the sea, at what is now Charlotte Harbor. He made an initial peace with their leader, Carlos. This peace was made stronger when Menéndez married Carlos's sister, who was given the Christian name Doña Antonia. However, the peace was not strong. Menéndez used his new wife as a hostage in talks with her people. He also talked with the Calusas' enemies, the Tocobagas. These actions helped turn the peace into a full-scale war, which continued on and off for many years. Menéndez was never successful in finding his son Juan.
He set up a Spanish military group of 200 men further up the coast. Then he sailed to what is now the Georgia coast, meeting the local Native Americans of St. Catherines Island. After that, he returned to Florida and expanded Spanish power throughout southeastern Florida. With his position as governor secure, Menéndez explored the area and built more fortifications. In 1567, he marched south and met the Ais (Jece) tribe when he reached the Indian River near present-day Vero Beach. He returned to Spain in 1567 and was appointed governor of Cuba in October of that year.
In December 1571, Menéndez was sailing from Florida to Havana with two small ships. He later said that he was "wrecked at Cape Canaveral because of a storm." The other boat was lost further on in the Bahama Channel, in a river they called the Ais after the local chief. Menéndez miraculously reached the fort of St. Augustine with seventeen people. He said the Native Americans tried to attack him three times, but he escaped by being clever and scaring them. He told them that many more Spaniards were coming who would kill them if they found them. The Ais, like the Tequesta and Calusa tribes, were often hostile to Spanish settlement. War continued on and off until 1670.
Menéndez later met the less hostile Tequesta tribe at their main town in El Portal (in what is now Miami). He was able to convince three chiefs to go with him to Cuba to act as translators for the Arawak people. Menéndez left Jesuit missionaries Brother Francisco de Villareal and Padre Rogel behind to try and convert the Tequesta to Roman Catholicism. However, the tribe was not interested in their teachings. The Jesuits returned to St. Augustine after a year.
Menéndez traveled to La Florida for the last time in 1571. He brought 650 settlers for Santa Elena, as well as his wife and family. In August 1572, Menéndez led a ship with thirty soldiers and sailors to get revenge for the killing of the Jesuits at the Ajacán Mission in present-day Virginia. Near the end of his life, he was appointed governor of Cuba shortly after arriving there. Menéndez died from typhus (a serious disease) in Santander, Spain, on September 17, 1574.
Legacy
- Pedro Menendez High School on State Road 206 in Saint Johns County is named after him. Several streets in the area also bear his name.
- The World War II Liberty Ship SS Pedro Menendez was named in his honor.
- A new F110-class frigate (a type of warship) of the Armada will be named after him.
See also
In Spanish: Pedro Menéndez de Avilés para niños
- El Portal, Florida
- History of Florida
- Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine
- St. Augustine, Florida
- Spanish Florida
