Pablo de Hita y Salazar

Pablo de Hita y Salazar (1646–date of death unknown) was a Spanish military officer who served as governor of Spanish Florida (La Florida) from 1675 to 1680. The territory at the time stretched from current-day Florida west to Texas and north to South Carolina. He was best known for his work devoted to construction of the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, the capital of La Florida.

Early years Hita y Salazar was born about 1646 in Seville, Spain.

Military career Hita y Salazar joined the Spanish army as a youth, serving in Flanders, Germany, Mexico and in the Cambray War over the course of forty years. He attained the rank of Sargento mayor (Sergeant major). In 1670, Hita y Salazar moved with his wife and six children to Veracruz, where from 1670 to 1674 he was chief administrative officer, or corregidor, of Veracruz.

Governor of Florida The Castillo de San Marcos When Hita y Salazar was 29 years old, he left Sevilla and moved to Florida. Once he became governor, plans were made to construct a new masonry fortress, the Castillo de San Marcos, to replace the series of wooden structures that had previously defended the presidio. During that time, the Florida government under Hita y Salazar made further changes and reforms in the plans for the castle's construction. Although it was Manuel de Cendoya who began the construction of Castillo de San Marcos, it was Hita y Salazar who consolidated the final draft: dimensions of the square, placement of fortification elements, polvorines and soldier houses. The workers were primarily recruited Native Americans from the area. Hita y Salazar recommended (following the military engineering concepts in vogue) that the fort be made in a pentagonal shape (the same as the fort of San Diego, in Acapulco, Mexico), although the idea was rejected by his advisers.

In 1679, while Hita y Salazar was dedicated to the construction of Castillo de San Marcos (and as part of the Spanish colonial expansion in the northwestern Florida area), the construction of a fort at San Marcos de Apalache, in St. Marks, Florida began. It was built to prevent external attacks against the colony. The fort was initially built of wood, coated with mud, and acted as a wooden stockade. It remained this way for three years. and they had six children: Gerónimo Fernando, Catalina, Juan Antonio, Pablo Domingo, Gerónima, and Pedro Francisco Hita y Salazar.