Archaeological remains found in the north of the state show that the first populations lived here about 10,000 years ago. In the south of the peninsula, settlements began in the 15th century. The main indigenous groups that inhabited the territory of Florida were the tribes of the Apalachee, Timucua, Tocobaga, Calusa and Tequesta.
The Spaniards were the first Europeans who explored this region Juan Ponce de León, landed in this territory on Easter Florida (Spanish floral festival or flower festival) in 1513, for this they gave it the name it still has today, and claimed this territory for Spain. Ponce de Leon returned in 1521 to found a settlement, but met strong opposition from the Indians. Other Spaniards like Hernando de Soto arrived later, but no colony was founded until 1559. In 1565 the French Huguenots tried to create a colony near Jacksonville, but they were expelled by the Spaniards who nevertheless founded that same year.
St Augustine, the first permanent settlement founded by Europeans on the territory of the United States. The British and the French maintained a great interest in the territory that today forms the state of Florida, as it bordered the French territory of Louisiana to the west and the areas of British colonization to the north. Particularly aggressive were the English campaigns, which attacked the Spanish missions.
In 1763 after the Seven Years War, Spain exchanged Florida for Cuba, an island that had been taken by the British in 1762. The British divided Florida into two provinces, West Florida, (part of the current states of Florida, Alabama and Louisiana ), and East Florida, which included the rest of the state today. During the English period, various factors contributed to the development of Florida, on the one hand, promoted the immigration of labor, and tried to improve the communication routes. On the other hand, the American Revolution of 1776 caused the arrival of many subjects of the British crown. During the war, Florida residents aided the British in the Savannah, Georgia campaign. When Spain declared itself an ally of the American colonists against England in 1778, Spanish troops attacked Mobile and from there were able to defeat the English forces in West Florida. After the War of Independence, in 1781 Spain recovered the two Floridias, a conquest ratified by the Treaty of Paris of 1783. Many of the English colonists who had settled there during the British domination abandoned Florida.
The United States put pressure on Spain to acquire the two Floridas. The insistence became more pressing starting in 1803 when France sold Louisiana to the United States. admission as a state of the Union. President James Madison took the opportunity to declare that the territories of West Florida were part of the territory that Spain ceded to France in 1800 and that Napoleon sold to the United States in 1803. in 1812 the United States Congress declared under its jurisdiction this section of the territory. The territory of eastern Florida, meanwhile, still remained under Spanish rule. The weakness of Spain, invaded by French troops, made the United States fear that England would take advantage of the alliance between the Spanish and the English to be able to reaffirm a privileged position in Florida. In 1814 Spain allowed the British to use the port of Pensacola, which was why it was attacked by Andrew Jackson’s troops. In 1819, Spain finally ceded the territory of Florida to the United States. England took advantage of the alliance between Spaniards and English to be able to reaffirm a privileged position in Florida. In 1814 Spain allowed the British to use the port of Pensacola, which was why it was attacked by Andrew Jackson’s troops. In 1819, Spain finally ceded the territory of Florida to the United States. England took advantage of the alliance between Spaniards and English to be able to reaffirm a privileged position in Florida. In 1814 Spain allowed the British to use the port of Pensacola, which was why it was attacked by Andrew Jackson’s troops. In 1819, Spain finally ceded the territory of Florida to the United States.
Jackson was governor of Florida from 1821, when the United States formally took over the territory. The population was concentrated in the north-west of the state, whose economy was based on the cultivation of cotton, as part of a system of exploitation of slavery. As the United States Congress adopted a rule to avoid breaking the balance between slave and non-slave states, Florida’s admission was delayed until 1845 when Iowa, a non-slave state, was admitted as the new state of the United States.
During the Civil War (1861-1865), the state of Florida declared itself a supporter of the Confederacy. Union soldiers managed to take the cities of Fernandina, Pensacola and St Augustine in 1862, but were later repulsed by the Confederates at the Battle of Olustee in 1864. Florida played an important role during the war as a supplier of meat to the troops. secessionists. The capital of Florida was never captured by Union troops. In 1868, Florida was readmitted as a US state.
After the Civil War, Florida had to reorient its economy as cotton production never reached the level of production of the slave period. Despite the difficulties in the adaptation process, Florida was successful in developing agriculture, (especially the cultivation of citrus fruits).
cattle breeding and exploitation of mineral deposits. Tourism began to develop at the end of the 19th century, proving to be one of the promising sectors of its economy. The development of railways that facilitated the connection of the peninsula with the Atlantic coast, as well as real estate projects on the coast as in the interior, contributed to the development of new areas, and to tourism. As a result, between 1870 and 1880 the population of the state of Florida doubled to reach half a million inhabitants.
During the first decades of the twentieth century, Florida benefited from speculation on its real estate. Prosperity was cut short, however, when a wave of hurricanes hit the state between 1926 and 1928, causing tremendous damage and with it the closure of numerous businesses. Speculation had caused the financial collapse of numerous banks in those same years. The Crisis of 1929 and the subsequent economic depression hampered Florida’s recovery.
As in other states, the World War was a real stimulus for Florida. Its strategic position meant that the army concentrated large quantities of its resources in this state, where naval bases and air force bases were built and strengthened. After the war, Florida’s economy was revitalized thanks to its industries (chemicals, electronics and paper), public investments, oceanography and, above all space projects (centered on Cape Canaveral), and the tourism sector, (with parks of entertainment such as Disneyworld and Universal Studios).
The triumph of the Revolution in Cuba in 1959 resulted in the massive influx of Cuban refugees into Florida, which established themselves as a group of great economic and political influence in the United States. The arrival of other groups in recent decades, (particularly Haitians), has resulted in serious conflicts of racial and cultural origin between communities, particularly in the south-east of the state and in the Miami area.
