St. Augustine (Florida)

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St. Augustine
Nickname : Ancient City, Continental United States' Oldest City
Five flags have been hoisted in the city since 1565. From left: American, Confederate, Spanish (after 1785), British (Union Jack before 1801), and Spanish (Burgundy Cross, before 1785)
Five flags have been hoisted in the city since 1565. From left: American , Confederate , Spanish (after 1785), British (Union Jack before 1801), and Spanish (Burgundy Cross, before 1785)
County and state location
St. Johns County Florida Incorporated and Unincorporated areas St. Augustine Highlighted.svg
Basic data
Foundation : 1565
State : United States
State : Florida
County : St. Johns County
Coordinates : 29 ° 54 ′  N , 81 ° 19 ′  W Coordinates: 29 ° 54 ′  N , 81 ° 19 ′  W
Time zone : Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Inhabitants :
-  Metropolitan Area :		 12,975 (status: 2010)
1,277,997 (status: 2004)
Population density : 597.9 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 27.8 km 2  (approx. 11 mi 2 ) of
which 21.7 km 2  (approx. 8 mi 2 ) is land
Height : 1.52 m
Postcodes : 32080, 32084, 32085, 32086, 32095, 32082, 32092
FIPS : 12-62500
GNIS ID : 308101
Website : www.ci.st-augustine.fl.us
Mayor : Nancy Shaver (2017/18)

St. Augustine ( Spanish : San Agustín) is a city and also the county seat of St. Johns County in the US state of Florida with 12,975 inhabitants (as of 2010).

St. Augustine is the oldest continuously populated city in the United States founded by Europeans.

geography

St. Augustine borders the city of St. Augustine Beach in the southeast and lies on the Matanzas River, which is part of the Intracoastal Waterway , in the immediate vicinity of the Atlantic coast . The city is located approximately 30 km southeast of Jacksonville .

history

St. Augustine was founded by the Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés on August 28, 1565, the feast day of St. Augustine of Hippo , after whom the new settlement was named San Agustín . Settlements established before, for example the original colony in Pensacola in western Florida (1559–1561) and Fort Caroline , today's Jacksonville (until 1564) were given up again. This makes St. Augustine the oldest city in the continental United States . A Catholic mass in St. Augustine was the first Christian worship service in a permanent settlement in what is now the United States. Born in 1566, Martin de Arguelles was the first child of European descent to be born on the mainland of what is now the United States. Twenty-one years later the English settlements of Roanoke Colony were established on Roanoke Island , North Carolina , and Virginia Colony , and 42 years later the successful settlements were established in Santa Fe , New Mexico and Jamestown , Virginia .

In 1586, St. Augustine was attacked and burned by Sir Francis Drake . In 1668 the city was sacked by pirates, killing most of the residents. In 1702 and 1740 St. Augustine was unsuccessfully attacked by British forces from the new colonies in what is now North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The latter attack was the more dangerous, in which James Oglethorpe of Georgia and Ahaya , the cowherd, chief of the Alachua group of the Seminoles , allied and besieged the city.

In 1763, the Peace of Paris ended the French and Indian War and awarded Florida and with it St. Augustine to the British after they had failed to conquer it by force. Now under British rule, St. Augustine was a colony loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War . The Peace of Paris (1783) made the colonies north of Florida independent, while Florida was given to the Spanish.

Between 1784 and 1821 St. Augustine was again in Spanish hands. Spain itself was occupied by Napoleon between 1808 and 1814 and had to fear for its colonies. Florida no longer had its former importance for Spain, in contrast to the expanding United States, to which Florida was extremely important. In 1821, the Spanish colonies in Florida, including St. Augustine, were peacefully transferred to the United States with the Adams-Onís Treaty .

Florida was initially a territory of the United States until it became a state in 1845 . In 1861 the Civil War broke out. Florida left the Union and joined the Confederation . Before that, on January 7, 1861, state troops had taken the fort in St. Augustine, which was occupied by a Union garrison. Union troops had recaptured the city on March 11, 1862, and they retained control of the city for the rest of the war years. Florida rejoined the United States in 1865.

Numerous buildings from the time as a Spanish colony can still be found in the city today, including the fortress Castillo de San Marcos , built between 1672 and 1695 . She could be defended against the British attacks in the 18th century and was successful during the Civil War, occupied by Union troops. Later the Indian chief Osceola was interned there .

At the end of the 19th century, St. Augustine got a railway connection . Led by industrialist Henry Flagler , the city became a winter residence for the wealthy upper class. Several of the villas and hotels built during this period are still standing today and are used by Flagler College and museums, among others. Flagler was instrumental in the further expansion of the east coast of Florida, for example he built the Florida East Coast Railway , which finally reached Key West in 1912 .

Because of its well-preserved architecture from the period of Spanish colonization and the 19th century, St. Augustine is now visited by numerous tourists. In 1938 the Marineland theme park , one of the US amusement parks, was opened south of the city .

Demographic data

According to the 2010 census, the then 12,975 inhabitants were distributed over 6,978 households. The population density was 597.9 inh / km². 84.2% of the population identified themselves as whites , 11.6% as African American , 0.4% as Native American and 1.2% as Asian Americans . 0.9% said they belonged to another ethnic group and 1.6% to several ethnic groups. 5.1% of the population was made up of Hispanics or Latinos .

In 2010 children under the age of 18 and 30.6% of all households lived in 17.3% of all households with persons at least 65 years of age. 46.6% of households were family households (consisting of married couples with or without offspring or one parent with offspring). The average household size was 2.03 people and the average family size was 2.67 people.

20.0% of the population were younger than 20 years, 27.7% were 20 to 39 years old, 26.0% were 40 to 59 years old, and 26.4% were at least 60 years old. The mean age was 43 years. 46.9% of the population were male and 53.1% were female.

The median annual income was $ 38,325, with 22.0% of the population living below the poverty line.

In 2000, English was the first language of 93.68% of the population, 3.37% spoke Spanish and 2.95% spoke another language.

Attractions

Flagler College
Lightner Museum and City Hall

traffic

US Highway 1 ( SR 5 ) and Florida State Roads A1A , 207 and 312 run through the city . Nearby, Interstate 95 passes the city. The city is passed by the Florida East Coast Railway's freight line . The nearest airports are Northeast Florida Regional Airport (nationally, directly adjacent to the city) and Jacksonville International Airport (50 miles north).

crime

The crime rate in 2013 was 375 points (US average: 295 points) in the average range. There were six rapes, 19 robberies, 74 assaults, 91 break-ins, 703 thefts, 32 car thefts and one arson.

Others

Since 1998 the World Golf Hall of Fame , the hall of fame of golf, is located in St. Augustine.

Town twinning

Sister cities and regions of the city are:

Personalities who have lived in the city

Web links

Commons : St. Augustine, Florida  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 . United States Census Bureau . Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  2. ↑ Language distribution 2000 . Modern Language Association . Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  3. ↑ http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-St.-Augustine-Florida.html
  4. ^ City website - St. Augustine's Sister Cities , accessed June 1, 2017