First Spanish Period

First Spanish Period. . Spanish colonists officially moved to what is now downtown Pensacola in 1756 after a series of hurricanes destroyed their settlement on Santa Rosa Island. The population was small but diverse, including people of European and African heritage from New Spain (modern Mexico), as well as local Native Americans. Colonists included soldiers and their wives, children, slaves and servants, convict laborers, civilians, and clergy. The Spanish military built Fort San Miguel de Panzacola between present-day Plaza Ferdinand and Seville Square. Trade relations with local native peoples helped sustain the colony., You are standing inside the fort walls in the central courtyard of Don Luís Joseph de Ullate, Captain of the Cavalry. The two-story main house, a separate kitchen, and a warehouse surrounded the courtyard. Ullate's home was one of the most expensive houses in Pensacola at the time. In 1761, following a series of raids by British-allied Native Americans, Ullate hosted native refugees from the local Catholic mission communities. The last missionized Native Americans in West Florida then re-settled just east of the fort., A closeup of the 1764 Gauld map, depicting the layout of the fort and community at the end of the First Spanish period. Image available at the Library of Congress., Spanish ceramics are typically tin-glazed earthenwares called majolicas. The sherd to the left depicts the Aranama Polychrome type, produced from 1750-1800. Image courtesy of the UWF Archaeology Institute. , The background image is a 1764 map by Surveyor George Gauld entitled, “A Plan of the Harbour of Pensacola in West-Florida." Image available at the Library of Congress.