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Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (February 15, 1519 - September 17, 1574), was a sixteenth century Spanish admiral and pirate hunter, known most notably for his founding of St. Augustine, Florida and his subsequent destruction of the French settlement of Fort Caroline in 1565. The first Spanish governor of Spanish Florida, he founded St. Augustine, the first permanent European settlement and oldest port city in what is now the continental United States, on August 28, 1565. Born in Avilés, (Asturias, Spain), Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was about forty-six years old when he had risen to the highest rank in the Spanish navy; he was a man of means with a huge family fortune; an Hidalgo. In 1554, he commanded the royal galleon which bore Prince Philip, later King Philip II of Spain, to England to wed Queen Mary; and in 1561, he commanded the great treasure-fleet of galleons on their voyage from Mexico to Spain. When he had delivered the fleet in Spain, he asked permission to go back in search of one lost vessel, but was then refused. This was the vessel where he lost his son and other family and friends. However after a lengthy delay, his request was granted only on the condition that he would explore and colonize La Florida as King Philip II's adelantado. He fitted out an expedition for the purpose at his own expense. When he was about to sail, orders came to him from the king to find and wipe out all Protestant (Lutheran) interlopers he might find there, or in whatever corner of the Indies he should find them. Don Pedro is credited as the Spanish leader who first surveyed and authorized the building of the royal fortresses at major Caribbean ports. He was appointed Captain-General of it the Armada de la Carrera in 1554 when he sailed out with the Indies fleet and brought it back safely to Spain. The experience he gained 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 de Avilés' brilliant 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 fleet there. Due to a lack of foodstuffs and the religion of the defeated French (many were Protestants), Menéndez de Avilés ordered that the survivors of Fort Caroline be put to the sword. The slaughter of these men led to the area of their execution being called 'Matanzas' or 'Massacre'. With the coast of Florida now firmly in Spanish hands, he then set to work finishing building and leaving a garrison in St. Augustine, establishing missions to the natives for the Catholic Church, and exploring the east coast and interior of the peninsula.
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