History of Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States de Oñate. In all, Spaniards probed half of today's lower 48 states before the first English colonization attempt (Roanoke Island, 1585). The Spanish didn't just explore, they settled, creating the first permanent European settlement in the continental United States, at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565. Santa Fe, New Mexico also predates Jamestown, Virginia (of Pocahontas fame, founded in 1607) and Plymouth Colony (of "Mayflower", Pilgrims and Thanksgiving fame). In 1566 Pedro Menendez established Fort San Felipe on Santa Elena- which is present day Parris Island near Beaufort South Carolina. The fort was part of the Spanish King’s ongoing effort to
Saint Patrick's Day in the United States Day in 2016. This amount is down from the $4.8 billion spent in 2014. The world’s first recorded St Patrick’s Day celebration was in St. Augustine, Florida, in the year 1600 according to Dr. Michael Franicis's 2017 research in the Spanish Archives of the Indies. Franicis discovered the first St. Patrick Day Parade was also in St. Augustine in 1601. . Both were organized by the Spanish Colony's Irish vicar Ricardo Artur (Richard Arthur). The Charitable Irish Society of Boston organized the first observance of Saint Patrick's Day in the Thirteen Colonies in 1737. Surprisingly, the celebration was not Catholic