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St. Augustine: The Discovery Of The Conquistadors

390 Words2 Pages
St. Augustine was a settlement founded by European explorers in 1565 by Pedro Menendez de Aviles. Although Juan Ponce de Leon discovered Florida in 1513 it was King Phillip II of Spain who ordered Pedro Menendez de Aviles to secure St. Augustine for Spain to deter France, who the Spanish did not trust, from claiming the territory making it the oldest city in the United States. The Conquistadors quickly overwhelmed the Timucua Indians who were the original people living in the territory with their protective armor , fire arms, horses, strategic battles and diseases like smallpox that spread through the native people who had no immunity. The Conquistadors believed it was their divine duty to bring Christianity to what they felt was barbaric
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