Florida is the most south-east state of the USA. The area was named by the Spaniard Ponce de Leon who sailed from France in 1712 in search of the fountain of youth. He spotted land on Easter Day and on account of the richness and quantity of flowers he saw named the land Florida. The land was explored by Narvaez in 1528, and by De Soto in 1539. In 1564 a
settlement was made near Florida by French Huguenots under Laudonniere, but in the following year Melendez sailed from Spain to exterminate the heretics; and having founded St Augustine, in 1565, massacred the entire French Colony.
The Spaniards held Florida until 1763, when they exchanged it with England for Cuba. In 1783 England gave Florida back to Spain in exchange for the Bahama Islands. In 1795 the territory west of the Perdido was ceded to France, and passed into the possession of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.
During the War of 1812 the government of Florida was weak, and the State became a refuge for fugitive slaves and Indians. The Governor of Georgia sent a force against them, which increased the disorder. In 1818 General Jackson invaded Florida attacked the Seminoles and captured Pensacola, which was restored to Spain. Ceded by a treaty of 1819, which was not finally ratified by Spain until 1821, in 1822 Florida became a territory of the United States, and in 1845 it was admitted as a State.
From 1835 until 1844 the Seminole War resulted in their genocide and the removal of survivors to the Indian Territory - at the end of the 20th century the Florida Indians still considered themselves to be at war with the USA, having never signed a peace treaty.
In 1869 Alabama offered $1,000,000 for West Florida, and a popular vote in that part of the State voted in favour of the annexation to Alabama, but it was not accomplished.
Abbreviations
Gazetteer
Research Florida