A hurricane on September 19, 1559 — five weeks after the landing — sank much of Luna's fleet with its supplies; the colony was abandoned in 1561, and Spain returned for good in 1698.
In 1559 Tristán de Luna founded the first multi-year European settlement in the continental U.S. on Pensacola Bay — six years before St. Augustine, forty-eight before Jamestown.
Why People Visit Pensacola Florida
People come to Pensacola for both halves of it — the beaches and the history. Sugar-white sand and emerald water on the barrier islands, and four and a half centuries of layered story in the old town and the forts, with the naval-aviation heritage overhead and America's oldest settlement story underfoot. It's a Gulf-coast vacation and an American history lesson in one welcoming city.
