Pork and bean stew simmers on the stove. Cousins fight over the last sea biscuit. Grandma places a freshly cooked gopher tortoise at the center of the table. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Wait a minute. That doesn't sound quite right, does it? Well, imagine if the British hadn't edged out the Spanish and the French in their quests to dominate much of North America. The Thanksgiving holidays might look—and taste—a little different. That's because what historians think was likely the real first Thanksgiving in the United States happened in Florida. It took place more than 50 years before the Pilgrims partied with the Wampanoag tribe at Plymouth Plantation in 1621.

So. Here's the story of that other Thanksgiving:

It all starts with a boy who ran away from home when he was 14. He became a sailor. Ahoy! Fast forward through a bunch of growing up stuff. Then Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was an officer in the Spanish Navy. He fought pirates for the king. There was some jail time in there, too. But it was for something he said he didn't do. No one knows what the charges were, and they let him out eventually. Anyway, his prowess against the pirates was outstanding. The king of Spain noticed. He was like, "Hey, go get those French people out of Florida for me, will you?" Menéndez agreed. He got super busy. He rounded up about 1,500 of his closest friends to go with him.

Who would turn down a trip to the Sunshine State, right? The group loaded up 11 ships. Then, they set sail with their spiffy sailor outfits on.

The trip wasn't exactly a pleasure cruise, though. The weather just wouldn't cooperate. Severe storms battered the voyagers. Only about 800 people made it to the Florida coast. They probably really wanted a nap. But there was no time for rest when they had a settlement to build!

Luckily, some friendly folks belonging to the native Timucuan tribe helped them build a fort. Menéndez called their cozy new colony St. Augustine. It became the first permanent European settlement in the whole (not so new) New World. Then, Menéndez got really grabby with the land. He claimed ALL of Florida for Spain.

Amid all this settlement setup and territory takeover, the 800 survivors decided to throw a party. They wanted to give thanks for still being alive. They invited their new friends from the native Timucuan tribe and cooked up cocido. That's a stew of garbanzo beans, salted pork, and garlic. Then, they passed it around the Thanksgiving table with hard sea biscuits left over from the boat ride. No one knows for sure if the meal was a potluck. If the Timucuan did bring their own goodies to share, it was probably stuff like corn, squash, fish, and gopher tortoise.

Florida has totally fair "We had Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving was cool!" claims. But the Thanksgiving origin story most of us know won out once British forces dominated Spain and France in the game of "Who Runs This New World?" As sometimes happens, the history was written by the winners. So the Pilgrims get the Thanksgiving credit, and Americans get turkey instead of tortoise. The author probably wrote this Article in order to .
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A. persuade Americans to eat cocido and sea biscuits like the Spanish did at the first Thanksgiving
B. show how the Timucuan tribe welcomed Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and the sailors to Florida
C. describe how Pedro Menéndez de Avilés ran away from home and then became a Navy officer
D. explain that the Pilgrims were not the first to settle in the New World and celebrate with a feast