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This Lost Colony Was The First European Settlement In The Continental United States
Not Jamestown, Saint Augustine, Plymouth, or Roanoke
When it comes to early American colonies, a number of names always come to the forefront. There was the infamous lost colony of Roanoke, which vanished in 1585. Then, in 1607, the English founded their first permanent colony at Jamestown, Virginia. Saint Augustine bills itself as the oldest city in North America, and it was founded in 1565. But none of these colonies were the oldest or earliest. The earliest European settlement in mainland North America was founded in 1526, decades before many of the more famous examples. The colony was known as San Miguel de Gualdape, and its exact whereabouts have been lost.
San Miguel de Gualdape predates Saint Augustine by 39 years. It predates Roanoke by 59 years. And it predates Jamestown by 81 years. The Spanish founded San Miguel de Gualdape 94 years before the English Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Yet, no one seems to remember San Miguel de Gualdape or really know anything about it.
So how did San Miguel de Gualdape? And why does no one remember America’s earliest colony?
In 1521, a man by the name of Lucas Vázquez de Ayllon had an intriguing conversation with two Spanish slavers on the island of Hispaniola. The men, Francisco Gordillo and Pedro de Quexos, were hired by Ayllon to secure slaves from the nearby Bahamas. The slaving ships found no suitable populations to plunder in the Bahamas, so they sailed northwestward in hopes of finding another island. Instead, they came across the Southeastern coast of the present-day United States. Here, they found much greater numbers of natives along with pristine rivers and untouched land.
The men attested that the land was unclaimed and untouched. It would not require a heavily armed conquistador expedition to subdue. But if a person could gather the right crew and materials, the land would be extremely lucrative. The stories sent Ayllon’s imagination running and he immediately petitioned the Spanish crown for permission to start a new colony in the freshly discovered land.
The crown agreed to allow Ayllon to build a small settlement and trade with any locals that he came across. Spirited…
