As St Augustine wraps up its 450th birthday party, it has shown to be quite an event:
- Concerts
- Re-enactments of Menendez landing
- The Vatican sends the Archbishop of Boston to preside over the Catholic entry to America
- The display of the reported finger of Augustine of Hippo
- Even a protest! (Resist450)
But if one searches the media in Spain proper, there is no mention of it, no where.
You can find various articles on St Augustine in the US and in travel publications, but in Spain, nada.
You can even find the Folio expose on how our neighboring town isn't as "historical" as they make themselves out to be. More "tourism directed history". They even criticize the washing over of the amount of slaves that were sold in the plaza.
King Felipe VI will be arriving next week to kick off the US-Spain Conference. Ask someone in Madrid? Huh?
While the town revels in its Spanish heritage, it seems Spain in general could care less. (Only the royals)
When King Juan Carlos toured the castillo, he didn't want to leave, they told him "stay as long as you want, your ancestors paid for it".
Perhaps they should plant maize around the ravelin again and send an Instagram to Queen Letizia.
Quote from: spuwho on September 09, 2015, 08:02:46 PM
As St Augustine wraps up its 450th birthday party, it has shown to be quite an event:
- Concerts
- Re-enactments of Menendez landing
- The Vatican sends the Archbishop of Boston to preside over the Catholic entry to America
- The display of the reported finger of Augustine of Hippo
- Even a protest! (Resist450)
But if one searches the media in Spain proper, there is no mention of it, no where.
You can find various articles on St Augustine in the US and in travel publications, but in Spain, nada.
You can even find the Folio expose on how our neighboring town isn't as "historical" as they make themselves out to be. More "tourism directed history". They even criticize the washing over of the amount of slaves that were sold in the plaza.
King Felipe VI will be arriving next week to kick off the US-Spain Conference. Ask someone in Madrid? Huh?
While the town revels in its Spanish heritage, it seems Spain in general could care less. (Only the royals)
When King Juan Carlos toured the castillo, he didn't want to leave, they told him "stay as long as you want, your ancestors paid for it".
Perhaps they should plant maize around the ravelin again and send an Instagram to Queen Letizia.
It was 450 years ago, St Augustine is a small town and Spain had lots and lots of property in the Americas. It's little surprise (given that there were older Spanish settlements in North America and the Americas in general).
To be honest, I'd be shocked if they were aware of this in Spain. That's not to say it's not important - but it's just not important to everybody :)
Yes, it certainly wasn't as important to Spain as it is to Florida and the U.S. For the Spanish it was just another backwater settlement on the margins of the empire that they eventually lost control of. It wasn't even the first Spanish expedition or settlement in the U.S., it's just the oldest one that's still around, outside of Puerto Rico.
Quote from: Tacachale on September 10, 2015, 10:52:07 AM
Yes, it certainly wasn't as important to Spain as it is to Florida and the U.S. For the Spanish it was just another backwater settlement on the margins of the empire that they eventually lost control of. It wasn't even the first Spanish expedition or settlement in the U.S., it's just the oldest one that's still around, outside of Puerto Rico.
When I surveyed the Spanish press over the last few weeks, lots of international articles about countries where the Spanish language dominates. Less so in other areas.
Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba were mentioned frequently.
Lets see what happens when the king and queen arrive next week. I don't think we will get the William and Kate madness the British press bring with them, but surely some uptick. When I reached out to a friend who grew up in Galicia, she didn't seem very impressed with the current royals.
When I talk to her brother, he said he knows about the Castillo de San Marcos very well. He said he learned in school (in Spain) that it was the only colonial Spanish fort never taken in battle, only by treaty. Not sure I can verify that, but it was an interesting thought.