Ayllón, << eyel YAWN, >> Lucas Vasquez de (1480?-1526), a Spanish colonizer, founded the first European settlement in what is now the United States. The settlement, on what is now the nation’s southeast coast, survived for only a few months.
Ayllón was born in Toledo, Spain. In 1504, he arrived in the Americas and served as a judge for the Spanish government on the island of Hispaniola. Ayllón became wealthy, in part by trading in Indian slaves. He also sponsored voyages to the coast of what may have been present-day South Carolina or Georgia. The first of these voyages, made in 1521, was led by Spanish explorer Francisco Gordillo. Ayllón heard reports that the land Gordillo saw, which became known as Chicora, was rich in natural resources and resembled southern Spain.
In 1526, Ayllón led an expedition of about 600 people to colonize Chicora. The colony Ayllón founded, called San Miguel de Gualdape, was probably on Sapelo Sound in what is now Georgia. The colonists soon suffered from food shortages and disease. Many, including Ayllón, died there. The survivors returned to Hispaniola.
See also San Miguel de Gualdape .
