Changes

[[Diego Malanado]], a captain under [[Hernando de Soto]]([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto WP]), visited the area during the early Spanish exploration of North America. He anchored in [[Pensacola Bay]] for the winter of [[1539]]&ndash;[[1540]].<ref name="srhistory">{{cite web

In [[1559]], don Don [[Tristan de Luna]] y Arellano led the first settlement of the region, coming from Vera Cruz in [[New Spain]] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Spain WP]), present-day Mexico. His convoy of eleven ships anchored in the bay , with 1500 settlers, and established its a colony on the site of today's [[Naval Air Station Pensacola]]. A [[hurricane]] destroyed severely damaged the colony a few weeks later, sinking some ships, but the flooded colony suffered through famine and fighting with the local tribes, trying to expand to a chain of regional settlements, with many going to present-day South Carolina. This However, another hurricane there (within 2 years) caused the Spanish to abandon the effort, going to either Cuba or rescuing the remaining settlers near Pensacola back to Vera Cruz. Based on progress assessment (judged in New Spain) about the Florida storms, fighting and famine, this first settlement Gulf Coast colony was finally officially abandoned in [[1561]], for 138 years. Atlantic Florida was settled at [[St. Augustine]], but the American Gulf Coast was only resettled at "Panza-cola" (pig-tail) in 1699. A [[presidio]] was later constructed on Santa Rosa Island in [[1722]] , near the location of the more recent [[Fort Pickens]]. Hurricanes in [[1741]] and [[1752]]<ref name="srhistory" /> forced its relocation to the mainland.