The Spanish Colonization of Florida

THE EXPLORATION OF FLORIDA

Columbus Reaches San Salvador. Frankfurt: Theodor de Bry, 1594. HMSF, gift of Marcia Kanner. The Spanish presence in the New World began on October 12, 1492, when Christopher Columbus and his crew landed in the Bahamas. From the start, the Spanish were motivated by two urges--to conquer new-found lands and to convert indigenous peoples to Catholicism. Juan Ponce de León accompanied Columbus on his second voyage the following year. In 1513 Ponce de León and his companions became the first Europeans known to have visited Florida. Indians killed him in 1521, when he returned to establish a colony on the west coast. Image no. 1991-306-1

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Landing of De Soto in Florida. Ballou's Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, 1855. In 1537 the king of Spain granted Hernando de Soto the governorship of Cuba and the right to conquer Florida. Within a few years, De Soto had assembled an army of soldiers, priests and craftsmen. They landed in Tampa Bay and began a four-year expedition through Florida and the Southeast. In 1542 De Soto died of fever near the Mississippi River. Of the 700 men in the expedition, 311 made it back to a Spanish settlement in Mexico. Image no. 1983-097-17

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While exploring the Bahamas in 1513, Juan Ponce de León landed somewhere near Cape Canaveral, named the landmass "La Florida" and claimed it for Spain. This was only 21 years after Columbus first set foot in the Bahamas and initiated Spanish colonization of the Americas. Ponce de León explored the east coast of the Florida peninsula, including Biscayne Bay, before returning to his base in Puerto Rico.

Several other expeditions further acquainted Spain with its new possession. In 1528, for example, Pánfilo de Narváez landed near Tampa Bay and headed north; Hernando De Soto arrived on the Gulf Coast in 1539 and began a four-year trek across Florida and the American South. Narváez, De Soto and many other members of these expeditions died, but survivors made it to Mexico to relate their experiences.

THE SETTLEMENT OF FLORIDA

In 1564 French Huguenots (Protestants) established a small colony along the St. 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.

The Spanish established missions throughout the colony to convert Native Americans to Catholicism. Missions in northern Florida, such as those at St. Augustine and Apalachee (present-day Tallahassee), survived for many years. Spaniards also raised cattle in Alachua (near present-day Gainesville) and, in 1698, permanently established Pensacola.

Pagus Hispanorum in Florida. (Florida Countryside.) Dapper, 1673. Based on a print in De Nieuwe en onbekende weereld / Arnoldus Montanus. -- Amsterdam: J. Meurs, 1671. This fanciful view of the Castillo de San Marcos and some of St. Augustine's residents was drawn by a European artist who probably never traveled to the New World. The colony of Florida never attained self sufficiency and depended upon an annual stipend from Mexico. It remained strategically important, however, as Spanish galleons sailed up the Gulf Stream just off Florida on their return voyage to Spain. Image no. 1989-165-1

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Gezigt van't Spaansche vlek Pensacola …. Page from: Hedendaagsche Historie of Tegenwoordige Staat van America … Amsterdam: Isaak Tirion, 1769. HMSF, gift of Mrs. George Deedmeyer, 1974. Tristán de Luna y Arellano attempted to establish a settlement at Pensacola Bay in 1559. It lasted less than two years. Many years later, a race to settle Pensacola Bay developed between Britain, France and Spain. In 1598 Captain Juan Jordán de Reina and Colonel Andrés de Arriola established a fort at the entrance to the bay. A garrison town quickly followed. The Spanish had won, for the time being. In 1743 Frenchman Dominic Serres drew the picture on which this engraving is based. It shows Santa Rosa Island looking south from inside the bay, and is the first eyewitness view of Pensacola. A few years later, Serres immigrated to England, where he became a well-known seascape painter. Image no. 1974-056-1

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Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. Illustration from: Gonzalo Solís de Merás. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. Deland: Florida State Historical Society, 1923. HMSF, gift of J. Deering Danielson. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine and the Spanish colony La Florida in 1565. Image no. 2001-419-1

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THE LOSS OF FLORIDA

Spain. Dirección de Hidrografía. Nueva carta del Canal de Bahama. Madrid: Direccion Hidrografica, 1805. HMSF, purchase, Joseph H. Fitzgerald Trust for Historic Maps. This Spanish navigational chart shows Florida during its last years as a Spanish colony. Image no. 2001-419-1

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Life continued in sparsely populated Florida until 1763, when Spain gave the colony to Great Britain in exchange for Havana, which the British had recently captured. In 1784 Britain returned Florida to Spain. By then, however, a new, expanding nation had formed to the north-the United States.

In 1818 Andrew Jackson led U.S. Army soldiers into Florida in the First Seminole War, which pushed the Seminoles further south and demonstrated Spanish Florida's inability to defend its northern border. Spain agreed to transfer Florida to the U.S. in exchange for a payment of Spanish debts. In 1821 Florida became a U.S. territory, thus ending nearly three hundred years of Spanish rule.