How long did Britain own Florida?
British West Florida was a colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1763 until 1783, when it was ceded to Spain as part of the Peace of Paris.
When did Britain lose Florida?
September 3, 1783On September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the American Revolution. In it Britain recognized the independence of the United States. Under separate treaty, England ceded Florida back to Spanish control in exchange for the Bahaman Islands.
Why did Britain give up Florida?
Deciding that the territory was too large to administer as a single unit, Britain divided Florida into two colonies separated by the Apalachicola River: East Florida with its capital in St. Augustine and West Florida with its capital in Pensacola.
What colony was Florida?
Florida was under colonial rule by Spain from the 16th century to the 19th century, and briefly by Great Britain during the 18th century (1763–1783) before becoming a territory of the United States in 1821.
How long did the British rule the United States?
British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain became the British Empire, in the Americas from 1607 to 1783.
Why did Spain give Florida to the US?
Florida had become a burden to Spain, which could not afford to send settlers or garrisons, so the Spanish government decided to cede the territory to the United States in exchange for settling the boundary dispute along the Sabine River in Spanish Texas.
Did Florida belong to Mexico?
Florida technically was part of New Spain, which was centered in what became Mexico. But de facto, Spanish-controlled Cuba administered Florida.
Who Conquered Florida?
Written records about life in Florida began with the arrival of the Spanish explorer and adventurer Juan Ponce de León in 1513. Sometime between April 2 and April 8, Ponce de León waded ashore on the northeast coast of Florida, possibly near present-day St. Augustine.
Why isn't Florida a colony?
Florida was not counted as one of the original 13 colonies. This was primarily because of the fact that it was a prize of war rather than one settled by English colonists. The British took possession of Florida in 1763 as the result of the Seven Years War.
Was Florida a French or Spanish colony?
Spanish colonyTHE SETTLEMENT OF FLORIDA Johns River near present-day Jacksonville. The following year, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés both expelled the French and founded the town of St. Augustine. Florida officially became a Spanish colony.
Was Florida a French colony?
French Florida (Renaissance French: Floride françoise; modern French: Floride française) was a colonial territory established by French Huguenot colonists as part of New France in what is now Florida and South Carolina between 1562 and 1565.
Who owned Florida in 1776?
Given enough time, this plan might have converted Florida into a flourishing colony, but British rule lasted only twenty years. The two Floridas remained loyal to Great Britain throughout the War for American Independence (1776–83).
When did Britain lose to America?
In October 1781, the war virtually came to an end when General Cornwallis was surrounded and forced to surrender the British position at Yorktown, Virginia. Two years later, the Treaty of Paris made it official: America was independent.
When did England lose USA?
In April 1782, the North ministry was replaced by a new British government which accepted American independence and began negotiating the Treaty of Paris. With the treaty's ratification on September 3, 1783, Britain accepted American independence, and the war officially ended.
When did Spain get Florida back?
After 20 years of British rule, however, Florida was returned to Spain as part of the second Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution in 1783. Spain's hold on Florida was tenuous in the years after American independence, and numerous boundary disputes developed with the United States.
When did Spain acquire West Florida?
When Spain acquired West Florida in 1783, the eastern British boundary was the Apalachicola River, but Spain in 1785 moved it eastward to the Suwannee River. The purpose was to transfer San Marcos and the district of Apalachee from East Florida to West Florida.
What two colonies did the British divide?
The British divided this southern region of the North American continent into two separate colonies: East Florida, with its capital in St. Augustine and West Florida, with Pensacola as its capital. Many of the Spanish inhabitants of Florida were evacuated to Cuba, and new British settlers arrived including some from the thirteen colonies .
Which country ceded its lands west of the Mississippi to Spain?
By separate treaty France ceded its lands west of the Mississippi to Spain, which formed Spanish Louisiana with the capital at New Orleans .
Who was the first British governor of Pensacola?
In 1763 British troops arrived and took possession of Pensacola. George Johnstone was appointed as the first British Governor, and in 1764 a colonial assembly was established. The structure of the colony was modeled after the existing British colonies in America, as opposed to Quebec, which was based on a different structure. In contrast to East Florida, where there was little development and population growth, West Florida began to boom in the years following the British takeover, and thousands of new arrivals came to take advantage of the favorable conditions there.
Which country was part of the American Revolutionary War?
Following an agreement signed at Aranjuez, Spain entered the American Revolutionary War on the side of France but not the Thirteen Colonies. Spanish troops under Bernardo de Gálvez advanced and seized Baton Rouge and Mobile. In 1781 Spain captured Pensacola and its garrison. As part of the 1783 Peace of Paris, Great Britain ceded the territories of West Florida and East Florida back to Spain.
When did Florida start colonizing?
Florida's colonial era began with the 1513 voyage of Juan Ponce de León and his subsequent unsuccessful effort to place a colony in southwest Florida in 1521.
Which country controlled Florida?
Florida subsequently became part of the Spanish empire, maintaining close contacts with Mexico and the Spanish Carribean. The British took control of Florida following the end of the Seven Years' War (the French and Indian War in North America). However, British rule was brief (1763-1784).
When did Spain regain Florida?
By the peace negotiations that ended the American Revolution in 1783, Spain regained its Florida possessions. Florida was once again a Spanish holding until 1821, when the Adams-Onis Treaty ceded Florida to the United States.
What was Fort San Nicolas built for?
Fort San Nicolas. Built to help control river traffic on the St. Johns River, Fort San Nicolas (1813) was one of the late colonial forts garrisoned by black troops out of Spain's Caribbean forces. (East Florida Papers, Library of Congress).
When did Florida become a state?
Two decades later, in 1845 , Florida was admitted to the union as the 27th US state.
When did Florida get its name?
Florida 's written history begins with the arrival of Europeans; the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León in 1513 made the first textual records. The state received its name from that conquistador, who called the peninsula La Pascua Florida in recognition of the verdant landscape and because it was the Easter season, which the Spaniards called Pascua Florida (Festival of Flowers).
What was the border between Georgia and Florida?
The border between the British colony of Georgia and Spanish Florida was never clearly defined, and was the subject of constant harassment in both directions, until it was ceded by Spain to the U.S. in 1821. Spanish Florida, so as to undermine the stability of the British slave-based plantation economy, encouraged the escape of slaves and offered them freedom and refuge if they converted to Catholicism. This was well known through word of mouth in the colonies of Georgia and South Carolina, and hundreds of slaves escaped. This predecessor of the Underground Railway ran south. They settled in a buffer community north of St. Augustine, called Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, the first settlement made of free blacks in North America.
What is the name of the land in Florida?
From 1513 onward, the land became known as La Florida. After 1630, and throughout the 18th century, Tegesta (after the Tequesta tribe) was an alternate name of choice for the Florida peninsula following publication of a map by the Dutch cartographer Hessel Gerritsz in Joannes de Laet 's History of the New World.
How many flags are there in Florida?
Five flags of Florida, not including the current State Flag or France.
How many people lived in Florida in 1492?
(Anthropologist Henry F. Dobyns has estimated that as many as 700,000 people lived in Florida in 1492.) The Spanish Empire sent Spanish explorers recording nearly one hundred names of groups they encountered, ranging from organized political entities such as the Apalachee, with a population of around 50,000, to villages with no known political affiliation. There were an estimated 150,000 speakers of dialects of the Timucua language, but the Timucua were organized as groups of villages and did not share a common culture.
What is the economy of Florida?
The economy of Florida has developed over time, starting with natural resource exploitation in logging, mining, fishing, and sponge diving; as well as cattle ranching, farming, and citrus growing. The tourism, real estate, trade, banking, and retirement destination businesses would follow later on.
What was the British colony of Florida?
BRITISH COLONIALISM IN FLORIDA 1763-1783. The British immediately divided Florida into two distinct colonies with the Apalachicola River as the boundary. St. Augustine remained the capital of East Florida, while Pensacola became the capital of West Florida. With poor road transportation and an enormous voyage around the Florida Keys, ...
How many families settled in Florida in 1776?
It was hoped that individual families who enter the region without the dependence of grants from London . Of 114 grants issued in 1776, only 16 families actually settled in Florida. More came to Florida by flatboat, settled a riverside homestead, and never reported to the British authorities.
Why did England use Florida as a staging area for British troops?
Floridians hoped the conflict would never reach Florida's shores, but England had decided to utilize Florida as a staging area for British troops assigned to the South. Florida 's warm climate would accustom British forces to the American heat and Florida could develop supplies for the British military.
Why did the Spanish attack Pensacola?
In 1781 a Spanish fleet under Bernardo de Galvez sailed into Pensacola Harbor from New Orleans and bombarded the city. His mission was limited, but it terrified the small community. Spain used this attack to demand the return to Spain of Florida at the end of the American Revolution.
What did Grant do in East Florida?
Grant recognized that rapid growth needed more than small homesteaders; East Florida needed some major farming developments. Grant himself built an estate outside St. Augustine, called "The Villa", and promoted the cultivation of cotton and indigo.
How many acres did East Florida grant to West Florida?
Grant's ability to recruit was reflected on the growth of the two colonies. East Florida granted 2,856,000 acres to West Florida 's meager 380,000 acres. Those who entered East Florida were predominately Europeans or Southern planters who regarded the region an extensive of the Atlantic coastal plain.
How did the British Parliament cooperate with the British?
The British Parliament cooperated by setting a goal of channeling migration away from the Indian lands west of the Appalachians to newly acquired Florida. The Proclamation of 1763 outlawed settlement west of the Appalachians while promoting Florida as a new area of British colonization.. Unlike agrarian Spain, England had strong desire ...
What was the name of the Spanish colony in the Spanish colony of Florida?
Florida Territory. East Florida (Spanish: Florida Oriental) was a colony of Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of Spanish Florida from 1783 to 1821. Great Britain gained control of the long-established Spanish colony of La Florida in 1763 as part of the treaty ending the French and Indian War ...
When did Florida become part of the United States?
Map of East and West Florida in 1819, the year that Spain ceded Florida to the United States by the Adams–Onís Treaty (ratified 1821) Under Spanish rule, the provinces of East Florida and West Florida initially remained divided by the Apalachicola River, the boundary established by the British. But Spain in 1785 moved it eastward to ...
What river divides Florida?
Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Under Spanish rule, Florida was divided by the natural separation of the Suwanee River into West Florida and East Florida.
What states were occupied by the Spanish in 1817?
By 1817, much of Spanish West Florida had been occupied and annexed by the United States over Spanish objections, with the land eventually becoming portions of the states of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi.
Which two colonies were separated by the Apalachicola River?
Deciding that the territory was too large to administer as a single unit, Britain divided Florida into two colonies separated by the Apalachicola River: East Florida with its capital in St. Augustine and West Florida with its capital in Pensacola. East Florida was much larger and comprised the bulk of the former Spanish territory ...
Which colony was loyal to Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War?
The sparsely populated Florida colonies remained loyal to Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. However, as part of the 1783 treaty in which Britain officially recognized the independence of its former American colonies, it also ceded both Floridas back to Spain, which maintained them as separate colonies while moving the boundary east to the Suwannee River .
Which two colonies did Britain divide into?
Determining the new territory too large to administer as one unit, Britain divided its new southeastern acquisitions into two new colonies separated by the Apalachicola River: East Florida, with its capital in the old Spanish city of St. Augustine, and West Florida, with its capital at Pensacola.
Overview
British West Florida was a colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1763 until 1783, when it was ceded to Spain as part of the Peace of Paris.
British West Florida comprised parts of the modern U.S. states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Effective British control ended in 1781 when Spain captured Pensacola. The territory subsequently became a colony of Spain, …
Creation
In 1762, during the Seven Years' War, a British expedition attacked and occupied Havana, the capital of Cuba. To secure the return of this valuable city, Spain agreed to cede its territory of La Florida to the victorious Great Britain under the 1763 Treaty of Paris. France ceded a large segment of New France to Great Britain, including its territory east of the Mississippi River except for the city of New Orleans.
British era
In 1763 British troops arrived and took possession of Pensacola. George Johnstone was appointed as the first British Governor, and in 1764 a colonial assembly was established. The structure of the colony was modeled after the existing British colonies in America, as opposed to Quebec, which was based on a different structure. In contrast to East Florida, where there was little develop…
Spanish conquest
Following an agreement signed at Aranjuez, Spain entered the American Revolutionary War on the side of France but not the Thirteen Colonies. Spanish troops under Bernardo de Gálvez advanced and seized Baton Rouge and Mobile. In 1781 Spain captured Pensacola and its garrison. As part of the 1783 Peace of Paris, Great Britain ceded the territories of West Florida and East Florida back t…
See also
• West Florida
• Negro Fort
• East Florida
• British America
• Spanish West Florida
Bibliography
• Calloway, Colin Gordon. The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America. Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Chavez, Thomas E. Spain and the Independence of the United States: An Intrinsic Gift. University of New Mexico Press, 2003.
Overview
The history of Florida can be traced to when the first Native Americans began to inhabit the peninsula as early as 14,000 years ago. They left behind artifacts and archeological evidence. Florida's written history begins with the arrival of Europeans; the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León in 1513 made the first textual records. The state received its name from that conquistador, who called the peninsula La Pascua Florida in recognition of the verdant landscape and becaus…
Colonial battleground
Juan Ponce de León, a famous Spanish conqueror and explorer, is usually given credit for being the first European to sight Florida in 1513, but he probably had predecessors. Florida and much of the nearby coast is depicted in the Cantino planisphere, an early world map which was surreptitiously copied in 1502 from the most current Portuguese sailing charts and smuggled into Italy a full decad…
Early history
The foundation of Florida was located in the continent of Gondwana at the South Pole 650 million years ago (Mya). When Gondwana collided with the continent of Laurentia 300 Mya, it had moved further north. 200 Mya, the merged continents containing what would be Florida, had moved north of the equator. By then, Florida was surrounded by desert, in the middle of a new continent, Pa…
Territory and statehood
Florida became an organized territory of the United States on March 30, 1822. The Americans merged East Florida and West Florida (although the majority of West Florida was annexed to Territory of Orleans and Mississippi Territory), and established a new capital in Tallahassee, conveniently located halfway between the East Florida capital of St. Augustine and the West Florida capital of Pensac…
Civil War through late 19th century
Following Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860, Florida joined other Southern states in seceding from the Union. Secession took place January 10, 1861, and after less than a month as an independent republic, Florida became one of the founding seven states of the Confederate States of America. During the Civil War, Florida was an important supply route for the Confederate Army. Therefor…
Since 1900
In 1900, Florida was largely agricultural and frontier; most Floridians lived within 50 miles of the Georgia border. The population grew from 529,000 in 1900 to 18.3 million in 2009. The population explosion began with the great land boom of the 1920s as Florida became a destination for vacationers and a southern land speculator's paradise. People from throughout the Southeast migrated to …
Tourism
During the late 19th century, Florida became a popular tourist destination as Henry Flagler's railroads expanded into the area. In 1891, railroad magnate Henry Plant built the luxurious Tampa Bay Hotel in Tampa; the hotel was later adapted for use as the campus for the University of Tampa.
Flagler built the Florida East Coast Railway from Jacksonville to Key West. Along …
See also
• Florida Historical Society
• History of the Southern United States
• Indigenous people of the Everglades region
• List of Royal Governors of La Florida