When I was in school, I was told the first Africans to arrive in what is now the USA were brought to Jamestown, VA, in 1619 aboard a Dutch ship (as indentured servants or slaves). Almost half a century later, I discovered the truth.
When Admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles sailed into the bay located minutes away from the 30th parallel, there were African mariners among his crew; and African skilled artisans aboard to help build the fortified settlement.
Prior to his departure from Spain, the Adelantado received four mandates from the king: remove the French Huguenot presence as a military force; destroy their fort at Cape May; convert the natives to Catholicsm; and establish a presidio (a fortified settlement) to protect his land and the bay which would be a rendezvous point for ships from South America, Central America, and Mexico to form convoys for the trans-Atlantic journey back to Spain. This was necessary because lone treasure ships, etc. were prone to attack by pirates and privateers.
With this final mandate in mind, the Admiral would have need of skilled artisans experienced in such ventures. It was a simple matter for him to stop at the Canary Islands and/or Cape Verde Islands to pick up Africans who were skilled wood-hewers, stone-cutters, and the all-important iron-workers; and Africans have been iron-workers since the Iron Age.
Admiral Pedro Menendez was from Aviles, Spain. The patron saint of Aviles is San Agostin de Hippo (St. Augustine of Hippo). On August 28, 1565, Pedro Menendez and his diminished fleet celebrated the Feast Day of the of the patron saint of Aviles. Ten days later, they landed and Father Francisco Lopez said the first Catholic mass over what was to be a permanent European settlement on North American shores. Thereupon the leader of the expedition named the presidio after the patron saint of Aviles: St. Augustine. That landing place is now marked by a 208-foot cross and a statue of Father Francisco Lopez offering the benediction.
After moving, in 1566, onto what is now Anastasia Island, for a brief period, the colony relocated to the mainland at the present location and was laid out according to the City Plan issued by the King in 1573.
And who was St. Augustine? He was the son of St. Monica, born Nov. 13, 354AD. So he grew up in a Christian household. He was a Numidian. From the Roman province of Medea, which is now Thagaste, Algeria. This is how the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in what is now the USA came to be named after an African. St. Augustine of Hippo died Aug. 28, 430AD, hence, the Feast Day festivities and celebrations being held on that date. The celebration is held each year in St. Augustine, FL. (See: The Augustinian Address)
The Spanish colonists established a mission town in 1580 located immediately north of the City. The mission town was little more than an encampment, at first, and is called Mision Nombre de Dios (Mission Name of God).
This is where African-American history begins. And this is only the first in a series to cover four hundred years of the involvement of Africans and African-Americans on the First coast.
Stay with the Examiner.com as the series continues.