Pensacola – The City of Five Flags
Welcome to Fun Fact Friday! I wanted to start something enjoyable and interesting, hence; Fun Fact Friday. Plus, you can’t beat the alliteration, am I right? The purpose of Fun Fact Friday is to give you something to look forward to at the end of the work week – Yay, the weekend! – and to interest you with tidbits of trivial information that you may not have otherwise known. Who knows? Maybe the next time you play Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy the things you’ve read from Fun Fact Friday will prove helpful!
The intent is that the topics covered each Friday will be a range of local (Pensacola) history, national/global history, current events, and whatever I come across that I think others might find interesting. So for the first Fun Fact Friday, because the Mahoney Team is located in Pensacola, I wanted to take a look into Pensacola’s own history.
Pensacola has an extensive history going back over 450 years. During the course of this history, Pensacola has come under leaderships from various governments. It is because of these transitions of power that Pensacola has come to be known as the City of Five Flags. This nickname depicts the banners of those governments that have flown over Pensacola – Spain, France, Britain, the Confederacy, and the United States. Their respective rules are as follows:
- Spain: 1559 (founding), 1698-1719, 1723-1763, 1781-1821
- France: 1719-1722
- Britain: 1763-1781
- The Confederacy (Civil War): 1861-1862
- United States: 1821-1861, 1865-present
Pensacola’s unique culture exists largely because of these main five governmental controls. This City of Five Flags radiates character and charm from its Spanish architecture to its Civil War-era forts. Is your city a melting pot like Pensacola? Tell us what you love most about where you’re from!
Source: Pensapedia: City of Five Flags