Santa Elena (Spanish Florida)

See also Joara

Santa Elena was founded on what is present-day Parris Island, South Carolina in the year 1566, near the Spanish Fort San Salvador (later Fort San Felipe). Santa Elena housed a sizeable community, and became the base of operations for the Jesuits and military working in the northern zone of Spanish Florida. Its establishment followed the destruction of the French settlement of Ft. Charleville the previous year, and it was originally intended as the capital of the Spanish colony of La Florida.

In 1567 the governor directed an expedition led by Captain Juan Pardo to go from Santa Elena to the interior of North America, to pacify and convert the natives and find an alternate route to silver mines in Mexico. The Spanish did not realize the distances involved. The expedition created the first Spanish and European settlement in the interior of what became North Carolina of the United States. Juan Pardo led his men to Joara, a large regional center of the Mississippian culture near present-day Morganton. Pardo renamed the village Cuenca, as he claimed it for Spain. The Spanish built Fort San Juan and made a base there for the winter. Pardo left a contingent of 30 men and went on to build five more forts. He returned to Santa Elena without going back through Joara. After 18 months, the natives attacked the soldiers, killing all but one of the 120 at the various forts and burning all the forts. The Spanish never returned to press their colonial claim in the interior.^[1]

In 1576, hostilities with the natives of nearby Orista and Escamacu led to the burning of the Spanish settlement and abandonment of the fort, which was also burned. In 1577 the settlement was rebuilt and a new battlement named Fort San Marcos was constructed. The entire settlement was abandoned in the latter half of 1587 when the Spaniards retreated to Florida.

Escamacu natives, converted to Christianity before the Spaniards abandoned the site in 1587, survived into the early 17th century. In recent years the site has been extensively studied through archaeological investigation.