St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the contiguous United States.
Spanish settlers founded the city on September 8, 1565, under Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. Its location on Florida’s Atlantic coast made it strategically important to Spain’s control of shipping routes and its broader claims in North America.
St. Augustine predates the English settlement at Jamestown, founded in 1607, by more than four decades. It is also important to distinguish the contiguous United States from all U.S. territories: San Juan, Puerto Rico, was founded earlier, in 1521.
The city remained under Spanish rule for much of its early history, with a British period from 1763 to 1783. Spain transferred Florida to the United States in 1821, after which St. Augustine became part of the developing American republic.