Pensacola, Florida, by François Godefroy, about 1784.
Presidio Santa Maria de Galve was a Spanish presidio built in 1698 on a high bluff overlooking Pensacola Bay to ward off French encroachment into Florida. The Presidio included a separate log fort named Fort San Carlos de Austria, a church, and a village. The fort was the first European fortification established in the Pensacola area and was named after King Carlos II.
Much of the surrounding village was burned in 1707 when a large Indian force besieged Fort San Carlos de Austria. The Spanish occupied the Presidio grounds until May 1719, when Governor Bienville of French Louisiana took it with a fleet of ships and a large ground force of Indian warriors. The French occupied the property until 1722, when the Spanish regained control under the 1720 Treaty of the Hague. The French burned the Presidio and the fort as they departed.
The Spanish decided not to rebuild there and built a new Presidio, Isla Santa Rosa Punta de Siguenza, on Santa Rosa Island. A hurricane destroyed the new Presidio in 1752. A third site was selected and named Presidio San Miguel de Panzacola in present-day downtown Pensacola.
From 1763 to 1781, Britain controlled Pensacola, but Spain recaptured it in 1781, beginning the last period of Spanish rule. In 1787, the Spanish constructed another fort on the original site of Fort San Carlos de Austria. The high bluff on which it was placed was called by the Spaniards “Barrancas de Santo Tomé,” and they called their new fortress Fort San Carlos de Barrancas.
The Spanish collaborated with British forces during the War of 1812, which led Andrew Jackson to move into Pensacola in 1814. The occupying British then retreated, but blew up Fort San Carlos de Barrancas before they left.
The site later hosted other forts, most notably the 19th-century Fort Barrancas, which still stands.
Fort San Carlos de Austria partial reconstruction courtesy of Fort Wiki.
In 1996, the University of West Florida initiated historical and archaeological research at the “First Pensacola” site, resulting in the discovery of the fort, village, and church. Today, the site displays a partial reconstruction of the fort and interpretive exhibits, located northeast of Fort Barrancas on the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida. The exhibits explain the site’s history and archaeology.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.
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