St. Augustine was established by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565.
The Spanish admiral founded the settlement in present-day Florida on September 8, 1565. St. Augustine is commonly recognized as the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the contiguous United States. Its founding predates the English settlement at Jamestown by 42 years.
Menéndez established the community for Spain while competing with French colonization and seeking control of Florida’s Atlantic coast. The settlement became a center of Spanish Florida and remained under Spanish rule, with an interruption under British control, until Florida became part of the United States in the nineteenth century.
St. Augustine is not the oldest continuously inhabited European-founded city in every part of the United States. San Juan, Puerto Rico, founded in 1521, is older and lies in a U.S. territory. The qualification “contiguous United States” is therefore important when describing St. Augustine’s historical distinction.