Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
[1] By his contract, or asiento, with Philip II, Menéndez was appointed adelantado and was responsible for implementing royal policies to build fortifications for the defense of conquered territories in La Florida and to establish Castilian governmental institutions in desirable areas.In this ship, the young Menéndez won his first victory of command in an engagement with French corsairs who had attacked three slow Spanish freighters off the coast of Galicia.He was affirmed in his belief of the strategic importance of the Bahama Channel and that Havana, on the island of Cuba, was the key port to conduct a rendezvous of the annual Flota of treasure galleons.[8] He sailed for the Indies that October as captain general and commanded the galleons of the great Armada de la Carrera, or Spanish Treasure Fleet, on their return voyage from the Caribbean and Mexico to Spain.Menéndez is credited as the chief planner of the formalized Spanish treasure fleet convoy system that became the main link between Spain and her overseas territories.On 19 August 1563, Pedro Menéndez and his brother Bartolomé were imprisoned by the Casa de Contratación, accused of accepting bribes and smuggling silver into Spain.In September, he received news that La Concepción, flagship of the New Spain fleet and commanded by his son Admiral Juan Menéndez, had disappeared off the coast of South Carolina, and was assumed to be dead.[14] Menéndez conceived a plan for a voyage to La Florida to search for his son, who he believed might have reached there, but he was powerless to initiate it from prison, and his petitions to King Philip II went unanswered.He also said that a large expedition of ships, soldiers and supplies was being fitted at Dieppe for a voyage to Florida: it was to have more than 500 arquebusiers, and many dismounted bronze cannons were loaded aboard the vessels.Menéndez expected to make vast profits for himself and to increase the royal treasury with this Florida enterprise, as it was to include the development of agriculture, fisheries, and naval stores.They pledged their persons and fortunes to the adelentado, hoping to enrich themselves later with large grants of lands and royal honors of civil and military offices in La Florida.[18] Menéndez was commissioned to reconnoiter North America from the Florida Keys to present-day Canada, and report on its coastal features, with a view to establishing a permanent settlement for the defense of the Spanish treasure fleet.[19] On 28 July 1565, Menéndez set sail from Cádiz with a fleet led by his 600-ton flagship, the San Pelayo, accompanied by several smaller ships, and carrying over 1,000 sailors, soldiers, and settlers.[20] On the feast day of St. Augustine, 28 August, the fleet sighted land and anchored off the north inlet of the tidal channel that the French called the River of Dolphins.[28] Informed by Indian allies that the French survivors were walking northward on the coast, Menéndez began to search for them, finding the party at the banks of the Matanzas River's south entrance.In May 1566, as relations with the neighboring Timucua Indians deteriorated, Menéndez moved the Spanish settlement to a more defensible position on the north end of the barrier island between the mainland and the sea, building a wooden fort there.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.
1st Governor of FloridaDiego de VelascoAvilésAsturiasSantanderCantabriaAdmiralLa FloridaNew SpainAsturianconquistadortrans-oceanic convoysSt. Augustine, Floridacontinental United Statesgovernor of La FloridaasientoadelantadoCatholic MonarchsWar of GranadaValladolidFrench corsairspatacheGaliciaCasa de ContrataciónSpanish treasure fleetCaribbeanBahama ChannelHavanaKing Phillip IIMary I, Queen of EnglandgalleonsFlorida StraitSpanishGulf StreamÁlvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa CruzVera CruzMexicopresidiosLightner MuseumHuguenotsJean RibaultSt. Johns RiverPort Royal SoundBermudaPhilip IIDieppearquebusiersnaval storesRené de LaudonnièreFort CarolineSpanish CrownFlorida KeysCádizSt. Augustinetidal channelFranciscanMission Nombre de DiosMocamaTimucuachiefdomwere killedDominique de GourguesPonce de Leon InletMatanzas Riverbarrier islandfortificationsJuan PardoSanta ElenaWestern North CarolinaChiahaCalusaCharlotte harborCarlosTocobagasGeorgia coastSt. Catherines IslandIndian RiverVero BeachcaciqueTequestaEl PortalArawakAjacán MissiontyphusSantander, SpainPedro Menendez High SchoolState Road 206Saint Johns CountyWorld War IILiberty ShipSS Pedro MenendezF110-class frigateArmadaEl Portal, FloridaHistory of FloridaRoman Catholic Diocese of St. AugustineSpanish FloridaWayback MachineBattle of LepantoLibrary of CongressChisholm, HughEncyclopædia BritannicaAppletons' Cyclopædia of American BiographyPiracyAncient MediterraneanGolden Age21st centuryAlbanian piracyAnglo-Turkish piracyBaltic Slavic piratesBarbary pirates (corsairs)AlgiersBrethren of the CoastBuccaneersCilician piratesChild pirateCossack piratesFilibustersJewish piratesMoro piratesNarentinesPrivateersConfederateRiver pirateSea BeggarsSea Dogs