Colonial Florida: St. Augustine and Beyond

The early history of Florida is often cast as Spanish conquistadors coming to a miserable place and embarking on quixotic quests only to find death and despair. Yet this narrative obscures a more complex history. Historian J. Michael Francis explores the earliest decades of Florida’s colonial past, including the 1565 founding of St. Augustine—the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in what is now the United States. Francis tells the intersecting stories of European settlers, Native Americans, and Africans, revealing a dynamic, interconnected world.