I'm driving through downtown Pensacola today I saw a sign that claimed that Pensacola was America's first settlement of course that's not what I've been taught in history class so I'd like to know if there was any evidence supporting this claim, and if not what was America's first settlement? Also is the claim founded on being successful or unsuccessful?
The first settlement in what would be the US was San Miguel de Gualdape in modern Georgia, founded in 1526 before being abandoned in 1527. Saint Augustine in Florida has been occupied since 1565, making it the oldest continuously occupied city in the continental US. Pensacola was one of the earliest though.