St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the contiguous United States. Spanish settlers founded it in Florida in 1565.
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the settlement on September 8, 1565, and named it San Agustín, or St. Augustine, after the Christian feast day on which the Spanish fleet first sighted the Florida coast. The city became the capital of Spanish Florida and remained under Spanish rule for more than two centuries, with an interruption during the British period.
The distinction is precise: St. Augustine is not the oldest European settlement anywhere in the present United States, because San Juan, Puerto Rico, was founded earlier. It is also not the first permanent English settlement; that title belongs to Jamestown. Before European arrival, the area was inhabited by Timucua communities. St. Augustine’s long history connects Spanish colonization, British Florida, the return of Spanish rule, and eventual transfer to the United States.