Publisher's Synopsis
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (1519-1574) founded St. Augustine in 1565. His expedition was documented by his brother-in-law, Gonzalo Solìs de Merás, who left a detailed and passionate account of the events leading to the establishment of America's oldest city.
Until recently, the only extant version of Solìs de Merás's record was one single manuscript which Eugenio Ruidìaz y Caravia transcribed in 1893, and subsequent editions and translations have always followed Ruidìaz's text. In 2012 David Arbesú discovered a more complete record: a manuscript including folios lost for centuries and, more important, excluding portions of the 1893 publication based on retellings rather than the original document.
In the resulting volume, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and the Conquest of Florida, Arbesú sheds light on principal events missing from the story of St. Augustine's founding. By consulting the original chronicle, Arbesú provides readers with the definitive bilingual edition of this seminal text.
