Secrets of Spanish Florida: A Secrets of the Dead Special

Pictured: Francis Drake and his men had been on their way home after looting several Spanish towns in the Caribbean when they spotted the fort. Drake knew that attacking Spain’s first settlement in La Florida would deliver a crushing blow to King Philip and his legacy.

Credit: Small Planet Pictures, Inc.

Join a team of archaeologists, scientists and historians as they reveal the little-known history of America’s Spanish colonists who settled in Florida in 1565, long before Jamestown or Plymouth in Secrets of Spanish Florida: A Secrets of the Dead Special airing Tuesday, December 26, 2017 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV.

The first permanent European settlement in the United States was founded in 1565–two generations before the settlements in Jamestown and Plymouth–not by English Protestants, but by the Spanish and a melting pot of people they brought with them from Africa, Italy, Germany, Ireland and even converted Jews, who integrated almost immediately with the indigenous tribes. Secrets of Spanish Florida: A Secrets of the Dead Special uncovers one story of America’s past that never made it into textbooks. Follow some of America’s leading archaeologists, maritime scientists, and historians as they share the story of Florida’s earliest settlers. It’s a story that has taken more than 450 years to reveal.

Funding for this program was provided, in part, by The Lastinger Family Foundation; The Hough Family Foundation; Weaver Family Foundation Fund, through The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida; and The Joy McCann Foundation. Funding for SECRETS OF THE DEAD is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and by public television viewers. Also supported by a production of Small Planet Pictures Inc., Investigative Media Group Inc., and 1186 Pictures in association with the University of Florida Historic St. Augustine, Inc. and THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET.

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Secret of the Spanish Florida will also air on WXXI-TV on Tuesday, December 26 at 9 p.m.

Video Trailer: