The Mystery of the First European Settlement in the United States

Two years ago, I was doing some research on something completely unrelated to history and stumbled upon the name “San Miguel de Gualdape”. This peaked my curiosity and I did some reading and discovered that San Miguel de Gualdape was the very first European settlement in what would later become the United States of America. Founded in late 1526 by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, as granted by King Charles V, the settlers who inhabited the settlement endured disease, famine, and skirmishes with local indigenous peoples before bailing. There was even an uprising of the African slaves brought to the settlement against their owners, the first documented slave uprising. The settlement lasted about three months and had dwindled from about 500 settlers (including men, women, children, clergy, and African slaves) to barely 150. Even the founder had died at this point.

One of the most interesting aspects of San Miguel de Gualdape, is that it’s location is heavily disputed. For decades, archaeologists have combed the coast of South Carolina in search of any indication of the 16^th century Spanish settlement. The settlement was originally thought to be located off the Winyah Bay area of South Carolina near the Hobcaw Barony, but searches of the area only yielded artifacts of much later settlements. Some archaeologists have pegged the actual location much further south near Savannah. Recently, archaeologists from South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology or SCIAA have begun re-examining the searches of the Hobcaw Barony from the early 1990s to gain a more in-depth look at the location of the ill-fated settlement.

The clandestine story of San Miguel de Gualdape was of particular interest to me, not only as a student of European History living in the states, but I live just an hour or so away from Hobcaw Barony so this is all a local mystery for me. There are actually many other Spanish settlements within the United States, including another here in South Carolina called Santa Elena located near Beaufort. (You can read more about Santa Elena at https://santa-elena.org.) To find out more about San Miguel de Gualdape by checking out Between the Waters, a collaborative blog with SCETV on the history of South Carolina from an anthropological perspective. 

(Image from usg.edu, the University System of Georgia.)