SAINT AUGUSTINE

oldest continuously settled city in the United States, seat (1821) of St. Johns county, northeastern Florida, 38 miles (61 km) southeast of Jacksonville; it is a port of entry on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, lying between two saltwater rivers, San Sebastian (west) and Matanzas (east). Ponce de Len, in search of the legendary Fountain of Youth, landed there in 1513 and took possession of the territory for Spain. In 1564 France established Fort Caroline near the mouth of the St. Johns River, 25 miles (40 km) north. A year later, in order to maintain Spanish sovereignty over Florida, Admiral Pedro Menndez de Avils destroyed the French colony and founded the city, which he named for St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo, upon whose feast day he had sighted the coast. Except for the 20 years (176383) that Florida belonged to England, throughout the following 256 years it was the northernmost outpost of the Spanish colonial empire. Since 1821 it has been a part of the United States. A symbol of Spanish power is the grim, massive Castillo de San Marcos, built in 1672; the oldest fort standing in the United States, it is now a national monument. The city was plundered by the English sea raider Sir Francis Drake and besieged by the British general and leader of the Georgia Colony, James Oglethorpe; it became a refuge for Loyalists during the American Revolution and during the Indian wars provided a prison for captured Seminole Indians, including Osceola. Union troops occupied it the last three years of the American Civil War. Many Spanish colonial buildings and sites have been restored, including the cathedral, Oldest House, and San Augustn Antiguo (a re-creation of the old Spanish city). The economy is based on tourism (first promoted in the 1880s by the financier-railroad magnate Henry M. Flagler, a pioneer in Florida development), commercial fishing, and some industry. The Florida East Coast Railroad has its headquarters and shops there. The city is the seat of Flagler College (1968). Pop. (1992 est.) 12,188.