History
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Spanish conquistador Tristan de Luna y Arellano led a large fleet to the northern Gulf Coast in the summer of 1559 in the earliest grand attempt to colonize the area for Spain. He sailed into Mobile Bay in August 1559 with 11 ships, more than 500 soldiers, and 1000 men, women, and servants with provisions. After settling on Pensacola Bay, he divided his forces to move inland and by way of the Mobile and Alabama Rivers into what is today south Alabama. Because of a hurricane, misfortune, and famine, the colonization effort failed, and Tristan de Luna y Arellano died in Mexico.
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Mobile, Alabama · United States
