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- Knowing his inheritance would be small, he decided to earn his livelihood as a seaman. At the age of 14, he ran away to sea, embarking on a ship that sailed from Santander to engage French pirates. Upon his return, he sold a portion of his inheritance and purchased a vessel of his own.
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Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was a Spaniard who founded St. Augustine, Florida, and was a classic example of the conquistador—intrepid, energetic, loyal, and brutal. Born into the landed gentry, he ran away to sea at age 14.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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The mission served nearby villages of the Mocama, a Timucua group, and was at the center of an important chiefdom in the late 16th and 17th century. Menéndez marched his soldiers overland from St. Augustine to destroy the French settlement at Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River.
Captain Pedro Menendez de Aviles was a Spanish sailor, soldier, explorer, and conquistador sent by Philip II of Spain to remove the French from Florida. He set up camp in what is today the city of St. Augustine and launched his overland march to take Fort Caroline.
Menéndez, a native of Avilés, Asturias, was appointed captain-general of the Indies fleet by Philip II in 1560. In a 1565 patent, he was named adelantado, governor, and captain-general of Florida; he agreed to settle and pacify the area at his own expense.
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519–1574) was a mariner, explorer, colonizer, and governor of Florida. A prominent defender of Spain against French privateers in Europe, he served as captain general of the Indies fleet in 1554, 1560, and 1561.
Menéndez was born to a wealthy family in Avilés, Spain, on February 15, 1519. At the age of 14 he ran away to sea and eventually became an officer in the navy. In 1549 King Charles I recognized his abilities by commissioning him to rid the Spanish coast of pirates.
A poor nobleman from Asturia, Spain, Pedro Menendez de Aviles became a successful and prosperous Captain-General of the Spanish Indies fleet. On March 20, 1565, Charles V selected this intensely loyal Catholic soldier to drive the French from Fort Caroline and develop a Spanish colony in La Florida. Unlike earlier missions, Menendez directed ...
