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Record Group Number: 000154
Series/Collection Number: .S 1632
Creator: Historic Pensacola Preservation Board.
Title, Dates: Don Tristan de Luna y Arellano: copies of documents relating to his expedition to Florida, 1548-1978, 1999.
Amount: 2.75 cubic ft.
3.00 microfilm reel 35 mm
1.00 item
57.00 microfiche
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement: Numerical by index identification number.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:     The Division of Archives, History, and Records Management was created in 1969 (ch. 69-106, Laws), combining the functions of the Public Records Screening Board and the Florida Board of Archives and History.  The Division was primarily concerned with the management of documents, properties, and manuscripts having archival, historical, archaeological, or current record value.  In 1986, the sections of the Division concerned with paper records became the Bureau of Archives and Records Management under the Division of Library and Information Sciences, and the sections concerned with the management historic sites, properties, and museums became the Division of Historical Resources (Ch. 86-163, Laws).

    The expedition of Don Tristan de Luna y Arellano left the Mexican Gulf coast for La Florida on June 11, 1559.  His purpose was to settle a town at Ochusa, which was later called Palonza, on the Pensacola Bay (the supposed later site of Pensacola) and to found two other colonies further inland.  Five days after the fleet arrived a hurricane struck destroying all but three of his ships and the majority of his food and supplies.  Faced with starvation, Luna was forced to travel inland in search of Indian villages for food.  In 1992, a Bureau of Archaeological Research team conducted an underwater inventory of Pensacola Bay, discovering the remains of the Spanish galleon from Tristan de Luna's 1559 attempt to settle the first major colony in Florida.  The Emanuel Point Shipwreck Project aimed to survey and excavate the oldest recovery of the exploration of the New World.
    The Indians fled before the Spaniards taking their food with them and burning their crops.  Although Luna and his men traveled far inland, they were unable to locate enough food for the original settlement.  By 1561 the Luna expedition was a disaster.
    This collection (research) was prepared by Denise Lakey for the Historic Pensacola Preservation Board on a contract basis.  She prepared the finding aids contained in the collection and also developed the numbering system used in the collection.
    The translations of the AGI Contaduria 877 were prepared by R. Wayne Childers in 1999.

Summary:     This series contains photocopies, microfiche, and microfilm of original correspondence, letters and papers concerning Don Tristan de Luna y Arellano and his expedition to Florida in 1559. The series also contains two booklets of translations of the records relating to the AGI Contaduria 877. The copies of original materials in this collection date from as early as 1548 to as late as 1568. There are some copies of publications which are dated from 1560 to as late as 1978.
Finding Aids: The material in this series has been indexed by place, person, ship, and subject with a unique identification number (ID number). The ID number was created using the original archives designation along with additional numbers if neccessary to make it unique. Copies of the four indexes are with the printed finding aid with the collection.
More detailed information regarding the vocabulary and abbreviations in the collection are in the printed reports in the collection.
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note: Photocopies, microfiche, and microfilm.
Location of Originals/Duplicates: Originals located at Archivo General de Indias (Seville, Spain) Archivo General de la Nacion, Mexico (Mexico City) Archivo General de Simancas (Simancas, Spain) Archivo Historico Provincial De Sevilla (Seville, Spain) Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid (Spain) G.R. Conway Coleccion H.P. Kraus Coleccion Old Spanish Missions Historical Research Library (Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, Texas)
Associated Materials: Other records relating to the Emanuel Point shipwreck can be found in Series S2330: Emanuel Point Excavation records, 1992-1998.
Language Notes: Copies of the original documents are in Spanish.  The abstracts of the items in the catalog are also in Spanish.  The notes concerning the items are in English.
For  possible translations of some of these documents see Herbert I. Priestley's book, "The Luna Papers: Documents Relating to the expedition of Don Tristan de Luna y Arellano for the Conquest of La Florida in 1559-1561." A copy is located in the Florida Room of the Florida State Library.
Ownership/Custodial History:
Publication Note:
General Note:
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields: Florida History Spanish exploration to 1565.
Pensacola (Fla.)
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