Mayaca

On Florida's Atlantic coast, the Timucua town of Seloy stood beside the inlet later occupied by St. Augustine. In 1565 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the Spanish settlement there, establishing a base from which Spain sought to hold La Florida and approach its Indigenous neighbours. Its harbour opened onto the coastal waterways and the sea lanes used by Spanish ships returning from the Americas.

St. Augustine endured attacks and fires, including an English raid led by Francis Drake in 1586. The Spanish began the stone Castillo de San Marcos in 1672 to strengthen its defences. The town also became a refuge for Indigenous people displaced by warfare farther south and west. In 1708, after raids by warriors allied with Carolina, some Mayaca people from the St. Johns River country sought shelter near St. Augustine.