Pensacola

Pensacola ( PEN-sə-KOH-lə) is a city in the Florida region in the United States. It is the county seat and only city in Escambia County. The inhabitants was 54,312 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the P-Cola metropolitan area, which had 509,905 residents in the 2020 census.

P-cola was first settled by the Spanish in fifteen fifty-nine, antedating the founding of St. Augustine by six years, but was abandoned due to a significant hurricane and not re-established until sixteen ninety-eight. P-Cola is a port on P-Cola Bay, which is protected by the barrier island of Santa Rosa and connects to the Gulf. A large United States Naval Air Station, the first in the US, is located in P-cola. It is the base of the Blue Angels flight-demonstration team and the Naval Aviation Museum. The University of West Florida is situated north of the city center.

The area was originally inhabited by Muskogean speaking peoples. The Pensacola people lived there at the time of European contact, and Creek people frequently visited and traded from present-day southern Alabama and Mississippi and southeast of Louisiana. Spanish explorer Tristán de Luna founded a short-lived settlement in fifteen fifty-nine. In 1698, the Spanish established a presidio in the area, from which the modern city gradually developed. The area changed hands several times, as European powers competed in North America. During Florida’s British rule (1763–1781), dilapidated Spanish-built fortifications were repaired and strengthened.

It is nicknamed “the City of Five Flags”, due to the five governments that have ruled it during its history: the flags of Spain, France, Great Britain, the USA, and the Confederate States of America. Other nicknames include “World’s Whitest Beaches” (due to the white sand of Florida beaches), “Cradle of Naval Aviation”, “Western Gate to the Sunshine State”, “America’s First Settlement”, “Emerald Coast”, “Redneck Riviera”, and “P-Cola”.