Spanish Florida

Prior to its annexation by the United States, Florida was a colony of Spain. From the founding of St. Augustine in 1565 to the collapse of their empire in the 1820s, the Spanish built forts, missions, and attempted to settle the subtropical, humid peninsula despite competition from other European powers.

The history of Spanish colonial interests in Florida can be separated into two distinct periods: 1513-1763 and 1783-1821. During the first Spanish period, Florida was one territory ruled through the Captaincy General of Cuba, while during the second Spansh period, it was divided into West and East Florida with capitals in Pensacola and St. Augustine respectively.

The first European explorer of Florida was Ponce de León. Various sites in the state have been named after him, such as DeLeon Springs, Ponce Inlet, and the Ponce de León Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine. However, despite his and others' explorations across the Southeastern U.S., the Spanish took little interest in the region due to its small Native population and lack of natural resources. Spanish settlement did not begin in earnest until 1565, when Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the colony of St. Augustine on the Florida Peninsula's eastern coast. The admiral and his settlers established Mission Nombre de Dios and, subsequently, missions throughout what is now Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. However, apart from Nombre de Dios, these missions were established as temporary structures. Once the British began colonizing Georgia and South Carolina in earnest, the Spanish abandoned their northernmost missions and they vanished entirely. The original capital of Spanish Florida, Santa Elena near modern Beaufort, South Carolina, was abandoned in the late 16th century and nothing remains of the site above ground.

Spanish efforts in today's state of Florida, though, were more successful. In the 17th century, the Spanish established a second colony in Pensacola and built a fort — Castillo de San Marcos — in St. Augustine. This came at a cost, as the Spanish used their remaining missions between the two colonies to recruit indigenous tribes for labor. Contact with these tribes led to their eradication by infectious diseases. Seminoles moved in from the north and settled Florida in their place, becoming the dominant population of Florida outside of Spanish settlements and runaway African slaves. By the 18th century, the decline of the Spanish Empire, combined with failed attempts at settlement and war against the British, led Spain to neglect Florida. In 1763, Spain handed over Florida to Britain in a peace treaty that concluded the Seven Years' War. The British divided Spanish Florida into two colonies, West and East Florida, but did little with these colonies during their twenty years in control.

After the American War of Independence, the British returned Florida to Spain. The Spanish maintained the division of the two colonies, but this time they took a more active role in settlement. Realizing the Americans had their eyes on the region, the Spanish aimed to establish clear control. They built the St. Augustine Basilica, founded Fernandina Beach, and presided over rapid population growth in the previously underpopulated Pensacola. Their fortunes were short-lived, though, as American General Andrew Jackson used the pretext of the Seminoles to lead incursions into Florida. With the Napoleonic Wars in Europe and wars for independence taking root across Latin America, the Spanish handed over both its Florida colonies to the United States and focused on holding onto its crumbling empire.

Although most of Spain's rural missions were lost to history, the Spanish district of St. Augustine was preserved. A few other sites survived in part, including a couple of houses built in Pensacola during the second Spanish period and some underwater shipwrecks off the coast. Museums in St. Augustine and the McLarty Treasure Museum farther south contain artifacts of Spanish colonization. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, historians began reconstructing Spanish colonial sites in Florida. Examples include Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose (Fort Mose) and Mission San Luis in Tallahassee.

• 🌍 Casa Feliz
• 🌍 Fort Jefferson
• 🌍 St. Bernard de Clairvaux Church

• El Camino Real — a route connecting 21 Spanish missions across California
• Gringo Trail — places commonly visited by Americans outside of the U.S., many of them in Latin America
• Seminole Wars — a war fought during and after Spanish colonization in Florida between the United States and the Seminoles