Menéndez de Avilés, Pedro

Menéndez de Avilés, Pedro
born Feb. 15, 1519, Avilés, Spain
died Sept. 17, 1574, Santander

Spanish conquistador.

He ran away to sea at 14 and rose to captain of the Indies fleet (1554–63). He was sent to Florida to establish a colony and remove a potential threat to Spain's American possessions posed by a French settlement on the St. Johns River. In 1565 he entered the bay of St. Augustine, where he built a fort. He attacked the French colony at Fort Caroline and massacred its entire population, calling its members heretics. He then explored the Atlantic coast and built a string of forts, firmly establishing Spain's control of Florida.

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▪ Spanish conquistador
born February 15, 1519, Avilés, Spain
died September 17, 1574, Santander
 Spaniard who founded St. Augustine (Saint Augustine), Florida, and was a classic example of the conquistador—intrepid, energetic, loyal, and brutal.

      Born into the landed gentry, he ran away to sea at age 14. In 1549 he was commissioned by the Holy Roman emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain) to drive pirates from the coasts of Spain. Five years later he was appointed captain of the Indies fleet. An impatient man who acted with dispatch and reluctantly concerned himself with administrative details, he made numerous enemies, who brought about his imprisonment in 1563. He was freed two years later after he had regained royal favour.

      Because King Philip II was disturbed by the potential threat to Spain's possessions from a settlement of French Huguenots on a strategic part of the Florida coast, he sent Menéndez de Avilés to Florida to establish a colony there and deal with the French. The expedition sailed in July 1565 with 11 ships and about 2,000 men. On August 28 he entered and named the bay of St. Augustine and built a fort there. On September 20 he took the nearby French colony of Fort Caroline and massacred the entire population, hanging the bodies on trees with the inscription “Not as Frenchmen, but as heretics.” Menéndez de Avilés then explored the Atlantic coast and established a string of forts as far north as the island of St. Helena (off present-day South Carolina). He was recalled to Spain in 1567 and later helped organize a squadron of ships against the English. He died while engaged in this task.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Menéndez de Avilés, Pedro — (15 feb. 1519, Avilés, España–17 sep. 1574, Santander). Conquistador español. A los 14 años huyó de su hogar para embarcarse y llegó a capitán de la flota de Indias (1554–63). Fue enviado a Florida a establecer una colonia y a eliminar la posible …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Menéndez de Avilés,Pedro — Me·nén·dez de A·vi·lés (mə nĕnʹdəs dā ä və lāsʹ, mĕ nĕnʹdĕth thĕ ä vē lĕsʹ), Pedro. 1519 1574. Spanish colonizer who founded the city of St. Augustine, Florida (1565). * * * …   Universalium

  • Pedro Menéndez de Avilés — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Pedro Menéndez de Avilés …   Wikipedia Español

  • Pedro Menéndez de Avilés — (* 1519 in Avilés, Asturien; † 17. September 1574 in Santander, Spanien) war ein spanischer Admiral, der Gründer der Stadt St. Augustine und zugleich der erste Gouverneur der spanischen Kolonie …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Pedro Menendez de Aviles — Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Pour les articles homonymes, voir Menéndez. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. Portrait par Francisco de Paula …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Pedro menéndez de avilés — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Menéndez. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. Portrait par Francisco de Paula …   Wikipédia en Français

  • 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 …   Wikipedia

  • Pedro Menéndez de Avilés — Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, (Avilés, 1519 Santander, 16 de septiembre de 1574), fue el primer gobernador español de Florida. Fundó la ciudad de San Agustín el 28 de agosto de 1565, el primer gran asentamiento europeo en los actuales Estados Unidos …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Menéndez de Avilés — [mə nen′dez΄ dā ä΄vē lās′] Pedro [pe′drō] 1519 74; Sp. naval officer & explorer: founded St. Augustine, Fla., in 1565 …   English World dictionary

  • Pedro Menéndez de Avilés — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Menéndez. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. Portrait par Francisco de Paula Martí (1791). Pedro Menéndez de A …   Wikipédia en Français

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