In 1557, the King of Spain had ordered the Viceroy of Mexico to appoint a Governor of Florida and St. Helena, who would also be entrusted with an expedition that ought to establish three settlements in eastern North America; one immediately off the port of Ochuse, on the coast of Florida bordering the Gulf of Mexico; another in the "province of Coosa" (present-day northwest Alabama), and finally, a third on the Atlantic side, in a place called Punta de Santa Elena (present-day Port Royal, in South Carolina).

Tristán de Luna was the chosen one.