In 1493, the Pope gave Spain permission to colonize almost all of the Americas, but they had to convert the Native people living there to Catholicism.
From the very first ill-fated colonization attempt of Florida by Ponce de Leon in 1521, establishing a mission to convert the Natives was part of his requirements. Later, when Pedro Menéndez was sent in 1565 to remove the French and colonize Florida, he also was tasked to build a mission and he immediately did so in St. Augustine for the local Timucuan Indians.
Sebastain de Yacos mission. Public domain. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.
This first mission, named Nombre de Dios, was found by archaeologists inside today’s Fountain of Youth Park. A cemetery with over 100 burials of converted Indians was discovered in a confined area thought to be beneath the floor of the church, as that was the tradition of the time. Glass beads from necklaces and rosaries buried with the deceased date to the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
Although the mission church was rebuilt and slightly moved over the years, the one built of stone in 1687 still stands and is open to the public.
Unearthing Florida is a project of WUWF Public Media, the Florida Public Archaeology Network(FPAN), and its founder, Dr. Judith Bense, since 1998. FPAN's Michael Thomin is a contributor to the program. WUWF's Sandra Averhart is executive producer.