Spanish colony Florida
The Spanish Colony of Florida (also Spanish Florida or La Florida ) describes an area in the southeast of the North American continent claimed by the Spanish during the Spanish colonization . The Spanish landed for the first time in 1513 on the peninsula on which the present-day state of the United States Florida is located. The Spaniards claimed both the peninsula and northern areas on the mainland as a colony from 1565 to 1763 and in the years 1784 to 1821 . In the 1560s they control territory reached to the front of the coast of present-day South Carolina situated Mission Santa Elena on the island Parris .
First Spanish colony
The conquistador Juan Ponce de León sighted Florida, which he believed to be an island, on his alleged search for the fountain of youth on March 27, 1513. He landed on April 2 on the east coast of the supposed island and entered the country during the Spanish Easter festival , Pascua Florida, whom Ponce de León named the country in honor of. At that time, many North American Indians lived on the peninsula . He left Florida and returned in 1521 with equipment and settlers to colonize the country. The attempt at founding it was unsuccessful; repeated attacks by the indigenous population forced the early settlers to flee.
The earliest accounts of inland Florida come from survivors of Spanish conquest attempts. Pánfilo de Narváez explored the west coast of Florida in 1528, but was attacked by Indians. Since his attempt to flee to Mexico via the Gulf of Mexico by sea , he has been considered missing. However, one of his officers, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca , who had dragged himself between Florida and Mexico for nine years, survived . He returned to his homeland and published his observations. This in turn prompted Hernando de Soto's to explore Florida in 1539. Members of his expedition later described details about the Indians living in Florida, their habits and behavior. In 1559 Tristán de Luna y Arellano built a short-lived settlement called Pensacola , which was abandoned after only two years.
The French began to take an interest in the region, which accelerated the Spanish colonization of America. Jean Ribault led an expedition to Florida in 1562 and René Goulaine de Laudonnière founded Fort Caroline two years later in 1564 in the area of what is now Jacksonville to serve as a port for Huguenot settlers.
Just a year later, San Agustín (St. Augustine) was founded and settled with the help of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés . This makes the place the oldest permanent and at the same time continuously inhabited settlement of Europeans on the mainland of the United States. From this location, which was used as a base, the Spaniards established Roman Catholic mission stations all over the southeastern part of what is now the United States . In the same year Menéndez de Avilés captured Fort Caroline and killed all French soldiers, only the Catholics survived. He renamed the fort Fort San Mateo. Two years later, Dominique de Gourgues recaptured the fort, killing all of the Spanish defenders.
In 1586 the English sea captain and occasional privateer Sir Francis Drake looted and pillaged the town of St. Augustine.
During the 17th century, English settlers in the colonies of Virginia and Carolina shifted the boundaries of Spanish possessions south, while French colonialists from the Mississippi Delta pushed the western borders of the Spanish. In 1702 the English Colonel James Moore attacked the settlement of St. Augustine together with the Allied Creek , but they did not succeed in taking control of the place. In 1704 Moore and his soldiers began to burn down the Spanish missions and to execute the Indians on the side of the Spaniards. The French took over the Spanish settlements in Pensacola in 1719.
During this phase the later Seminoles began to immigrate to the area.
British colony
In 1763 Spain exchanged Florida for the British in exchange for control of Havana on the island of Cuba , which the British had conquered during the Seven Years' War . Almost the entire Spanish population then left the Florida region, along with large parts of the indigenous population. The British colonial rulers divided the area into East and West Florida and began aggressive recruitment measures to lure settlers into the colony. This included free land and support for export-oriented companies.
In 1767 the British moved their northern border of West Florida on a line that stretched from the mouth of the Yazoo River east to the Chattahoochee River and thus made up about the lower third of today's Mississippi and Alabama states . During this time, more creeks immigrated to the region, which eventually led to the formation of the Seminole tribe. The tribe consisted mainly of "Lower Creek" from Georgia , mikasuki-speaking Muskogee and escaped slaves of African origin ( Black Seminoles ). A smaller proportion was made up of whites and Indians from other tribes. The Indians originally living there had been destroyed by disease or war, it is assumed that most of the survivors left the area together with the Spanish settlers around 1763. This left large areas open for settlement by the "Lower Creek", which had been in conflict with the "Upper Creek" from Alabama for years. The emerging Seminoles initially populated the wooded areas of northern Florida and gradually spread to the Everglades in the south, where many of their descendants still live today.
Britain managed to maintain control of Florida during the American Revolutionary War , but the Spaniards, who at the time were allied with the French who were actively at war with Britain, managed to recapture most of West Florida. Towards the end of the war, the Peace of Paris between the kingdoms of Spain and Great Britain came into effect in 1783 . As a result, Great Britain returned the colony to the former Spanish rulers, but without setting the boundaries of the area. The Spaniards preferred the extensive borders, while the north-controlling US only recognized the old border along the 31st parallel. In the Treaty of San Lorenzo signed between the two countries in 1795 , Spain finally accepted the border preferred by the Americans.
Second Spanish colony
In the early 19th century, Spain attempted to attract new settlers with extensive lands in Florida, and colonists from both the United States and Spain moved into the country in greater numbers. After attacks by the Europeans on Indian villages, the Indians began to raid settlements in the Georgia colony - allegedly at the behest of the Spaniards. The United States Army increasingly invaded the territory of the Spanish colony, including in the context of the campaign against the Seminoles in the years 1817/1818 under Andrew Jackson , which was known as the First Seminole War . After that war, the US practically controlled East Florida.
On February 22, 1819, the Adams-Onís Treaty was signed by the United States and Spain and came into effect on July 10, 1821. According to the agreements of the treaty, the United States received the territories of Florida and waived all claims in Texas in return .
literature
- Joyce Elizabeth Harman: Trade and Privateering in Spanish Florida, 1732-1763. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa 2004, ISBN 978-0-8173-5120-5 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Treaty of Amity, Settlement, and Limits between the United States of America and His Catholic Majesty in English. Last accessed January 3, 2010.