America's First Settlement

link titleAmerica's First Settlement is a slogan used by the City of Pensacola in reference to the 1559 expedition by Don Tristan de Luna that established the first European presence within the current United States. However, the colony was abandoned after being devastated by a hurricane, and six years later St. Augustine became the oldest continuously occupied European city on the continent.

The phrase is found on several signs that welcome visitors to downtown Pensacola, despite the fact that Luna is believed to have settled further west, outside city limits, on or near the bluff where Fort Barrancas now sits.