Spanish Settlement.

In 1565 Spain established the earliest permanent European settlement in North America at San Agustin (present-day St. Augustine) on the Atlantic coast of the Florida peninsula. The first order of business for the new colony and its leader, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, consisted of routing a fledgling French colony that arrived in Florida at the same time. Marching overland to the French fort, La Caroline, while the French ships and forces lay stranded south of San Agustin because of a hurricane, Menendez slaughtered the fort's remaining defenders, including the leader of the colony, Jean Ribault. With the French threat crushed, Menendez established a garrison system by rebuilding the fort of La Caroline (renamed San Mateo) and strengthening San Agustin.

Daily Life.

As the founding of San Agustin suggests, it served as a military garrison and was staffed primarily by...