The first European settlement in what is now the United States was established on the shores of Charlotte Harbor by explorer Juan Ponce de Leon and a band of more than 200 soldiers, priests, farmers, artisans and monks. The colony lasted for about six months, finally collapsing after a battle with hostile Caloosa Indians in which Juan Ponce was mortally wounded. The exact location of the colony is still unknown, but it pre-dated the Jamestown colony and the Pilgrim landings by nearly a century, and the establishment of St. Augustine by a quarter of a century.