PENSACOLA, a city of Florida, U.S.A., on Pensacola bay (an arm of the Gulf of Mexico), 5o m. S.E. of Mobile; a port of entry and the county seat of Escambia county. It is on Federal highways go and 131, and is served by the Frisco system and the Louis ville and Nashville railroad, as well as by transoceanic and coastwise steamship lines. Pop. 31,035 in 1920 (34% negroes) ; and 31,579 in 193o by the Federal census. The large land-locked harbour has a controlling depth of 32 feet. Its narrow entrance (between the island of Santa Rosa on the east and a narrow penin sula on the west) is guarded by Ft. Pickens and (on the mainland) Ft. Barrancas, headquarters of the IV. Corps area coast defence. Between Ft. Barrancas and the city is the principal air-training station of the U.S. navy. The city (9.75 sq.m. in area) is bordered on three sides with water. From the bay it rises gently to heights commanding wide views, and on its eastern and western boundaries are Bayou Texar and Bayou Chico. There are 27 public parks, and near by are many beaches and other pleasure resorts. The traffic of the port in 1927 amounted to 752,879 tons (42% foreign commerce) valued at $23,429,227. The city has a large wholesale trade, extensive fisheries, dry-docks, and over 7o manufacturing plants, with an annual payroll of $8,000,000. Lumber, naval stores, marble, mattresses, excelsior, sails, tents, awnings, ships, small boats, dredges, fertilizer, brick, tile and cotton-seed oil are leading products. Since 1913 a commission form of government has been in operation.
Pensacola bay may have been visited by Ponce de Leon in 1513. It was reached in 2528 by Panfilo de Narvaez, with 24o followers, and in 154o De Soto established his base of supplies here. A settle ment which lasted two years was made in 1559 by Tristan de Luna, and another (on land now occupied by the naval air station) in 1696 by Don Andreas d'Arriola, who built Ft. San Carlos (still
standing). In 1718 Pensacola was captured for France (then at war with Spain) by Sieur de Bienville, and recaptured by a Spanish force from Havana ; and in 1719 was again taken by de Bienville, who burned the town and destroyed the fort. When it was restored to Spain, in 1723, a new town was built, at the west end of Santa Rosa island, but after a destructive hurricane in 1754 the survivors went back to the mainland, building on the present site of the city. In 1763, when the Floridas were ceded to Great Britain, Pensacola was made the capital of West Florida, and most of the Spanish population went to Mexico and Cuba.
During the Revolutionary War it was a refuge for many Loyal ists from the North. On May 9, 1781, it was captured by Don Bernardo de Galvez, the Spanish governor at New Orleans, where upon most of the English left, though trade remained in the hands of the English merchants. During the War of 1812 the British made it a centre of operations, and in 1814 entered the harbour to take formal possession, but were repulsed by Gen. Andrew Jackson. In 1828 Gen. Jackson captured the city from the Spanish, on the ground that they were encouraging the Seminole Indians, and in 1821 Florida as a whole was finally transferred to the United States, the ratification ceremony and transfer of flags taking place in the public square (now City Hall park) of Pensacola. In Pensacola was chartered as a city and was selected as the site of a Federal navy yard. On Jan. 12, 1861, the navy yard was seized by the State Government, but Ft. Pickens remained under Federal control, and on May 8, 1862, the Confederates evacuated the city.