Quick Study: First permanent settlements in North America
The first permanent settlers landed in St. Augustine in 1565.
Jamestown, 1607, is the country’s first permanent English settlement.
Those two towns are also the first permanent European settlements in Florida and Virginia, but have you ever wondered about the first permanent settlements in the other 48 states? You can find a list of them in the Resources section.
St. Augustine is at the top of the list as the oldest city, but holds that honor only for the continental United States. If U.S. territories are included, Puerto Rico is the first permanent European settlement in the United States. San Juan was founded in 1521, more than 40 years earlier than St. Augustine.
Another Spanish site competes with Jamestown as the second-oldest settlement. Santa Fe, N.M., like Jamestown, may have had a few early settlers in 1607, although the town wasn’t formally established until 1610.
To put the first U.S. settlements in historical context, here is a look at other firsts in the Americas:
• 1496: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, first permanent European settlement in the Americas.
• 1519: Veracruz, first permanent European settlement in Mexico (moved to a different site in about 1523 and then to its present location in 1599).
• 1521: Cumana, Venezuela, first permanent European settlement on the South American mainland.
• 1565: St. Augustine.
• 1605: Port Royal, Nova Scotia, considered the first permanent European settlement in Canada, at the time part of New France (largely vacant 1607-1610 and again 1613-1629, renamed Annapolis Royal in 1710).
• 1607: Jamestown.
Related:
List: First permanent settlements in each state
