included among the settlers. Supplies and livestock, including cows, sheep, pigs and a hundred horses, were loaded and the fleet departed in mid-July 1526. The large colonizing group landed in Winyah Bay on August 9, 1526. Their largest ship struck a sandbar and sank. There was no loss of life but a major portion of their supplies was lost. Ayllón ordered a replacement vessel to be built, probably the earliest example of European-style boat building in what is now the United States. Ayllón looked for a suitable site to establish a settlement at nearby Pawleys Island, but the soil was poor and a sparse Indian population offered little chance for profitable trade. Several reconnaissance parties were sent out to search for better opportunities. Based on their reports, Ayllón decided to move about 200 miles south to a "powerful river", probably Sapelo Sound in present-day Georgia. Early in September, the healthy men rode to the new site on horseback while the rest traveled by ship. When they reached Sapelo Sound, they began immediately to construct houses and a church. The short-lived colony of San Miguel de Gualdape was formally established on the festival of Saint Michael, September 29, 1526. It was the first European settlement in the present-day United States. Ayllón's rough-hewn town survived less than three months, with settlers enduring exhaustion, cold, hunger, disease, and troubles with the local natives. When Ayllón died on October 18, 1526 from an unnamed illness, the entire enterprise fell apart. The surviving colonists broke into warring factions and by mid-November decided to give up and sail back to Hispaniola. Of the 600-700 people whom Ayllón had brought with him, only 150 survivors reached Hispaniola that winter. San Miguel de Gualdape was the first European colony in what is now the United States, preceding the unsuccessful colony at Pensacola, Florida by 33 years, St. Augustine, Florida (the first successful colony) by 39 years, the Roanoke Colony by 61 years, and Jamestown, Virginia by 81 years. Despite repeated attempts, archaeologists have been unable to locate the site of the town or the shipwreck in Winyah Bay. See also Hernando de Soto Tristán de Luna Notes References Further reading External links Short biography Spanish explorers of North America 1478 births 1526 deaths People from Toledo, Spain 16th-century Spanish people People of New Spain People of the Colony of Santo Domingo Colonial United States (Spanish) Explorers of the