Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón

Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón (c. 1475, probably Castile, Spain – 18 October 1526) was a Spanish explorer who in 1526 established the short-lived San Miguel de Gualdape colony, the first European attempt at a settlement in what is now the continental United States. Ayllón's account of the region inspired a number of later attempts by the Spanish and French governments to colonize the southeastern United States.

Lucas arrived Santo Domingo in April 1502, with Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres' flotilla. Under Ovando, Lucas became alcalde mayor of Concepcion. Lucas left the island in 1509, returning to Spain where he earned a law degree from Valladolid, before returning to Santo Domingo as a Spanish judge.

A licentiate and sugar planter on Hispaniola, Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón commanded six vessels with 600 colonists, supplies and livestock, sailing from Santo Domingo in mid-July, 1526. The large 1526 colonizing group landed in Winyah Bay, near present-day Georgetown, South Carolina, on September 29, 1526 on the Feast of Archangels day.

They looked for an area suitable for colonization approximately 15 km north, near Pawleys Island. They found the area unsuitable, and Ayllón decided to move further south. Some accounts say that some settlers took an overland voyage, while others left on a new boat built at the temporary settlement. If true, this would probably be the earliest example of European-style boatbuilding in what is now the United States. Heading southward, likely by both land and sea, the group reunited and established on October 8, 1526 the short-lived colony of San Miguel de Gualdape, the first European settlement in the present United States, probably at or near present-day Georgia's Sapelo Sound.

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