America's Untold Story

We travel to Spanish archives to hear the firsthand accounts written in diaries discovered in the Archives of the Indies and in a private collection held by an ancestor of Pedro Menendez. This episode follows the survivors through their first year - through the artifacts and writings that unveil a very different America.

A fleet of 42 pirate ships led by the Englishman Sir Francis Drake bore down on St. Augustine, and burned the entire town to the ground. By 1607 when Jamestown was founded, St. Augustine was undergoing urban renewal, but English colonists were ready to attack once again. In 1620 Plymouth was founded, and by 1664, 11 of the 13 British colonies had been established.

In 1763, at the end of the Seven Years War in Europe, Spain ceded Florida to England in order to keep its valuable port of Havana. The entire city of St. Augustine, except for a few families, fled to Cuba and Mexico to avoid British rule. This episode ends with the exile of 3000 Spanish residents of St. Augustine to Cuba. As the Spanish move out, the British move in - and with them, slavery.

Once the British colonists took control of Florida, they divided it into two parts, East and West Florida, which became the 14th and 15th British colonies. In 1812 the Patriot’s War began. Although East Florida won, in 1821 Spain handed both East and West Florida over to the Americans and Florida became U.S. territory.