Where is the oldest city in the US and Everglades?

Answer 1

The oldest permanently occupied settlement in the U.S. founded by people of European origin is St. Augustine, Florida, located on the northeastern coast of Florida. It was founded in 1565 by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles, leader of a group of Spaniards who had arrived determined to establish a strong fortified settlement. The first "city" in the Everglades, with a current population of a little over 500, was founded in 1892, when George W. Storter, who owned a local sugar cane plantation, opened a trading post there.

The early experience of the Europeans at St. Augustine was difficult. The area had been explored first by Ponce de Leon (1513) and then by other Spanish expeditions, granting Spain the right to claim ownership of the territory. Spain did not do much with this area, having so many other colonies to attend to, and so attempts to settle there fizzled out - until the French established Fort Caroline nearby. Not only were the French settling and exploring areas that Spain claimed for itself, but also a group of French mutineers had begun to use the area as a base for attacks against Spanish ships. Spain reacted with vigor, sending the expedition led by Menendez de Aviles with sufficient stores, soldiers and weapons to establish a lasting settlement and to wipe out the French. The commander at Fort Caroline attempted to attack St. Augustine, but his forces were delayed by storms at sea. Menendez de Aviles took this opportunity to attack the weakened garrison left at Fort Caroline, killing all the soldiers left in the fort, and then returned to St. Augustine in time to slaughter the soldiers who had been delayed by storms at sea.

The Spanish expedition had fulfilled all its goals, especially after the Spanish withstood attacks by Native Americans, the French, the British, and a group led by James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia, that included thousands of colonial militia. Nevertheless, St. Augustine and the rest of Florida was lost by Spain when it ceded the area to Britain as part of the settlement of the French and Indian War, the American name for the North American portion of the European Seven Years' War.