Download A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida

A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
A Comparative Timeline of General American History
and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
Early exploration and establishment of colonies. Observe
the trajectory of Spanish exploration in the Southeast
versus English exploration along the Atlantic seaboard.
Note the conflict in territorial interests beginning in 1586.
While the Spaniards were expending efforts on creating
Indian missions, the English of Virginia were rapidly
expanding into commercial export of tobacco. By 1670 the
Spaniards were entrenching behind defenses and
encouraging slaves to runaway from their English masters,
while English settlers retaliated with attacks on St.
Augustine and the mission system. How did this rivalry
between colonists and empires affect the region? Look at
the dates around the War of Jenkin's Ear (1739-1742).
What's the relationship between the founding of Gracia
Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, the Stono slave revolt in
Carolina, and Oglethorpe's attack on Spanish Florida? Can
you relate this to issues about the American Civil War?
Major dates in the history of Spanish
Florida
1492 Columbus sails into the
Caribbean.
Comparative dates in British colonial
history
1492 Columbus sails into the Caribbean.
1493 Columbus founds the town of La
Isabela on Hispaniola.
1497 John Cabot explores the Atlantic coast
of North America.
1513 Juan Ponce de León explores the
Florida coast.
1524 Giovanni de Verrazano explores the
coast of North America.
1528 Pánfilo de Narváez leads an
expedition through Florida.
(Religious and dynastic turmoil in
England dampen interest in further
exploration overseas)
1539 Tristan de Luna tries
unsuccessfully to start a colony at
Escambia Bay (Pensacola).
1559 Tristan de Luna tries
unsuccessfully to start a colony at
Escambia Bay (Pensacola).
1
A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
1562 Jean Ribault and French settlers
land in northeast Florida.
1564 French settlers build Fort Caroline
on the St. Johns River.
1565 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
destroys the expedition from
France and establishes St.
Augustine.
1585 English settlers make their first
attempt to settle Roanoke (Virginia)
1566 Menéndez founds his capital for
La Florida at Santa Elena (Port
Royal Sound) in what is today
South Carolina.
1577 Spaniards begin to conquer
Florida, allying or fighting with
local native American tribes and
chiefdoms.
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
A detail of Francis Drake's attack on the
town of St. Augustine in 1586.
1586 Sir Francis Drake, after raiding
the Spanish Caribbean, attacks
and burns St. Augustine.
1586 Sir Francis Drake visits Roanoke and
takes the settlers back to England.
1587 Spanish settlers abandon Santa
Elena and leave the Carolina
coast. Settlement focuses on the
Florida peninsula.
1587 Sir Walter Raleigh sends a second
group of colonists to reestablish
Roanoke.
1588 Replacing the unsuccessful
Jesuits, members of the
Franciscan order start a mission
for Indians on Cumberland Island
(now part of Georgia).
1588 English ships destroy the Spanish
Armada in the English Channel,
altering the balance of naval power in
Europe.
2
A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
1590 The latest wave of English colonists
to Roanoke find the colony abandoned
and return home to England.
1597 The Guale Indians of coastal
Georgia rebel against Spanish rule
and efforts at religious
conversion.
1607 The Franciscans begin to establish
missions among the Timucuan
Indians of northeast and north
central Florida.
1607 Captain John Smith establishes
Jamestown.
1610s Plague spreads among the 16,000
Indian converts of Florida.
1616 The new colony of Virginia exports
2500 pounds of tobacco.
1620 The Pilgrims establish Plymouth
colony.
1623 The Franciscans reintroduce
religious instruction among the
Guale and establish more
missions.
A cross from an early mission site.
The parish church of St. Augustine
(constructed 1797)
1626 The Dutch establish New Amsterdam
(later, New York)
1630 Virginia exports 333,000 pounds of
tobacco. Boston is founded.
1633 For the first time, the Franciscans
try to establish missions among
the Apalachee of the panhandle
region.
1634 The colony of Maryland is
established.
1634 The colony of Maryland is
established.
3
A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
1635 There are at least 41 missions
among the Indians of northern
Florida, with an estimated
population of 30,000 Indians.
1635 The Reverend Thomas Hooker
petitions to create Connecticut.
1638 Possible founding date for San
Luis de Talimali, soon to be the
most important settlement in
Apalachee, and the western
capital of La Florida.
1638 Virginia exports 3.1 million pounds of
tobacco.
1647 War erupts in Apalachee between
Christian and non-Christian
Indians.
1650 The missions of La Florida reach
their greatest extent. Yellow fever
and small pox kill hundreds of
Native Americans throughout the
decade.
1650 Although slaves only comprise a
small proportion of Virginia's labor
force (which is mostly indentured
servants), colonial authorities legalize
chattel slavery, opening the path to
keeping Africans and their children in
bondage.
1656 Census shows 26,000 Christian
Indians in 38 missions.
1658 Angered by Spanish demands for
labor, the Timucua Indians rebel
against Spanish rule and Gov.
Diego de Rebolledo.
1659 The Council of the Indies in Spain
orders the arrest of Gov. Diego
de Rebolledo for mishandling
Indian affairs. A measles
epidemic kills an estimated
10,000 Indians.
1663 The colony of Carolina is
chartered.
1663 The colony of Carolina is chartered.
1670 The Treaty of Madrid defines
Spain's territorial claims in North
America.
1672 Officials in St. Augustine
commence the building of a stone
fortress, the Castillo de San
Marcos.
1675 A bishop's census shows 33
missions with 13,152 people.
4
A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
1683 Governor Juan Marquez Cabrera
begins to employ former slaves as
soldiers in Florida's militia.
1684 La Salle brings a French
expedition into the Gulf Coast.
1687 Eleven slaves (eight men, two
women, and a child) flee from
slavery in Carolina and go to St.
Augustine.
1693 King Charles II declares that
slaves fleeing English possessions
will be set free upon arriving in
Spanish territory.
1694 Charles II issues a royal order to
occupy Pensacola Bay.
1698 Spaniards establish Pensacola to
block French expansion along the
Gulf of Mexico.
Detail from Thomas Lopez's
map of St. Augustine
showing the free black
community of Fort Mose
(far right).
1700 Fears grow in Carolina that slaves,
now numerous, might be encouraged
by Spain to rebel against slaveowners.
1702 An expedition led by James
Moore of Carolina invades
Spanish Florida and burns down
St. Augustine but fails to capture
the Castillo.
1702 War of the Spanish Succession/Queen
Anne's War
1704 In a second expedition, James
Moore sends Indian allies of the
English to raid and destroy the
Spanish missions.
1711 From a population of perhaps
8000 in the 1670s, only 401
refugees survive the attacks on the
missions. They settle near St.
Augustine for protection.
1711 Colonists in Carolina put down an
attempted slave revolt.
5
A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
1712 Colonists in New York put down an
attempted slave revolt.
1714 Colonists in Carolina put down a
second slave revolt.
1715 Escaped slaves help the Yamassee
Indians make war on Carolina
colony.
1723 The English aid the Creeks in
retaliations against the Yamassee.
1724 Ten runaway slaves reach St.
Augustine.
1728 Carolinians under Col. John
Palmer attack Nombre de Dios.
1733 James Oglethorpe founds Ft.
Frederica, Georgia.
1738 Spanish officials establish Gracia
Real de Santa Teresa de Mose,
outside St. Augustine, as a town
for freed slaves.
1738 Mose outside St. Augustine as a town
for freed slaves.
1739 War of Jenkin's Ear between
Spain and Great Britain.
1739 Angolan slaves at the Stono River,
South Carolina, kill twenty whites in a
revolt and are caught trying to flee to
Florida.
1740 James Oglethorpe leads Georgia
and Carolina militia on a military
expedition to destroy St.
Augustine.
1740 The population of South Carolina
reaches 40,000. Two-thirds of the
colony's inhabitants are slaves.
1741 Colonists in New York put down
another slave revolt.
1742 Governor Manuel de Montiano
sends a retaliatory strike into
Georgia.
6
A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
Age of Empire: The French and Indian War (1754-1763)
redrew the map of colonial North America, eliminating French
possessions in Quebec and Louisiana. Spain was forced to cede
its colony of Florida to England. In compensation, it received
the Louisiana territory from France. English colonies stretched
along all of the Atlantic seaboard from Canada to the Gulf of
Mexico. This new "status quo" lasted less than 20 years, as thirteen of Britain's colonies
rose in revolt against Crown and parliamentary policies. How did Spanish ambitions to
regain the Floridas affect the American Revolution? What problems did a Spanish
presence in Florida and Louisiana pose for the young United States? Consider how the
administrations of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe resolved these problems in the years
between the Louisiana Purchase (1803) and the First Seminole War (1817-1818).
Original art, British ships, from Flags of Florida, Lt. Col. A.L.L. Martin.
1745 The French and Indian War.
to
1763
1745 The French and Indian War.
to
1763
1764 England divides its new colony of
Florida into two colonies, East
and West, with the capital of the
former at St. Augustine and the
capital of the latter at Pensacola.
1764 Parliament passes the Revenue, or
Sugar, Act.
1765 John Bartram, Royal Botanist,
travels through British East
Florida, including visits to the
Seminole Indians.
1765 Parliament passes the Stamp Act.
1767 Dr. Andrew Turnbull of Scotland
brings indentured servants from
the Mediterranean to Florida to
work his indigo plantation at
New Smyrna.
1770 Eight British soldiers in the 29th
Regiment fire on a mob in Boston,
killing five.
1773 John Bartram's son, William,
returns to East Florida.
1773 American patriots stage the Boston
Tea Party.
1774 The First Continental Congress meets.
1775 The American Revolution starts at
Lexington and Concord.
1776 Congress declares the colonies
independent.
1777 Indentured servants at New
7
A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
Smyrna rebel and go to St.
Augustine, creating the
"Minorcan" community there.
1778 France and Spain agree to aid the
American cause.
1779 Settlers loyal to George III flee
into East Florida from South
Carolina and Georgia.
1779 The British capture Savannah.
1780 Spanish forces from Louisiana
capture Mobile in British West
Florida.
1780 The British capture Charleston.
1781 An expedition under Bernardo de
Gálvez lays siege to Pensacola
and forces the British army
defending it to surrender
1781 American and French forces, assisted
by a French fleet, trap Lord
Cornwallis's entire army at Yorktown,
Virginia.
1783 England acknowledges Spanish
sovereignty over British West
Florida and cedes British East
Florida.
1783 Britain recognizes the independence
of the United States.
Spanish officials were
horrified when Napoleon
Bonaparte acquired the
Louisiana territory from
Spain and then sold it to the
United States. Americans
now had a wedge of
settlement between the
Floridas and Texas, and
complete control over the
Mississippi River. But when
President Jefferson claimed
all the lands between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains as part of
Louisiana, the United States and Spain came to the verge of war. Tensions lasted from
1803 until 1807, when Americans became distracted by growing problems with the
British.
Detail from the French map "Lower Louisiana and West Florida" in Vue de la Colonie
Espagnole du Mississipi, &c. (1803)
8
A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
1788 Nine states ratify the U.S.
Constitution, establishing a new
federal system of government for the
United States.
1789 Parisians storm the Bastille, starting
the French Revolution. George
Washington becomes the first
president of the United States.
1790 Spain establishes new laws for
East Florida, responding in part
to the proximity of the United
States. The Crown ends its policy
of giving sanctuary to runaway
slaves. It opens Florida to
immigration. New settlers must
take an oath of loyalty to the
Crown. It opens trade between
Florida and "neutral powers,"
which includes all ports of the
U.S.
1790 Thomas Jefferson, as Secretary of
State, proposes an expedition to
explore the Missouri River.
1791 William Bartrams's Travels
through North and South
Carolina, Georgia, East and West
Florida comes out in print.
1793 The cornerstone of St. Augustine's
parish church (now the Cathedral
Basilica) is laid. The church is
finished in 1797.
1793 French republicans execute King
Louis XVI for crimes against the
people. England and Spain declare
war on France. Thomas Jefferson
again proposes an expedition to the
Missouri.
1794 French agents in Savannah make
plans to help Americans living in
East Florida rebel against Spanish
rule.
1794 Farmers in western Pennsylvania
rebel over a proposed tax on whiskey.
Alexander Hamilton leads troops to
suppress trouble.
1795 Spanish forces in East Florida
suppress a revolt by
American settlers. Rebel leaders
flee into Georgia.
1795 The Treaty of San Lorenzo between
Spain and the United
States guarantees Americans free use
of the Mississippi River and duty-free
passage through the port of New
Orleans.
9
A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
The early 1800s saw the people of the young American
republic involved in disputes with France and Britain over
safe passage of shipping on the high seas and with Spain
over ownership of East and West Florida. Territorial
acquisitions that started through negotiation were eventually
concluded by war as the United States used the War of 1812
to push Spain into surrendering its Florida possessions.
American troops occupied Spanish East Florida in 1812 and
1813. Meanwhile, Americans fought their second war
against the British, sealing the verdict of the American
Revolution.
Image from William Walton's The Army & Navy of the United States (1900)
1797 France begins to attack American
commerical shipping, leading to the
Quasi-War, an undeclared naval
conflict.
1800 Under pressure, Spain returns the
territory of Louisiana to France.
President Jefferson fears this will
mean a strong French military
presence in the West.
1803 The United States purchases
Louisiana from France. President
Jefferson claims the Purchase also
includes Spanish Texas and portions
of Spanish West Florida.
1805 Nelson destroys the French and
Spanish fleet at Trafalgar. The U.S.
Navy punishes the Barbary pirates for
preying on American shipping. The
Lewis and Clark expedition reaches
the Pacific Ocean.
1806 Dr. Daniel Turner, a Rhode Island
physician living in St. Marys,
Georgia, tells friends that tensions
with Spanish settlers over
the Louisiana Purchase and other
matters have reached a fever pitch
and might lead to an invasion of
Florida.
10
A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
1808 Slave traders begin to use Amelia
Island, East Florida, as a base
of operations for the African slave
trade.
1808 Britain and the United States ban the
African slave trade from their
possessions. The French invade Spain.
1810 American settlers in the Baton
Rouge District of Spanish West
Florida rebel against Spanish rule.
1810 President James Madison orders
American troops from Louisiana to
occupy Baton Rouge and hold it for
the United States.
1811 Governor David Mitchell of
Georgia pledges to put an end to
Spanish "piracy" at Amelia Island.
1812 [March 17-18]. Encouraged by an
American agent, Georgia militia,
rebel Floridians, and U.S. troops
occupy Spanish East Florida.
1812 [June 18]. The U.S. Senate declares
war on England but the next day
refuses to declare war on Spain.
Between 1812 and 1821 Spain struggled to hold on to the
Floridas. Gregor McGregor (right) led troops against
Amelia Island in 1817. That same year the First Seminole
War broke out, and in 1818 Andrew Jackson led forces
against the Miccosukee and Seminole towns between the
Apalachiola and Suwannee rivers.
Original artwork, Flags of Florida, Lt. Col. A.L.L. Martin.
1813 After one full year, the U.S.
troops occupying East Florida
withdraw to Georgia, burning
many plantations as they go.
1813 Andrew Jackson takes on the Creek
Confederation and defeats hostile
Creeks at Horseshoe Bend. Georgia
and Tennessee militias move against
the Seminoles in Spanish East Florida.
1814 Andrew Jackson's forces occupy
Pensacola in Spanish West
Florida and force a British fleet to
abandon the area.
1814 British forces burn the government
buildings in Washington but retreat
from an attempt to take Baltimore.
1815 Andrew Jackson defeats a British
invasion of New Orleans.
1816 Escaped slaves congregate around
a fort the British set up on the
Apalachicola River in Florida.
1816 The U.S. Army enters Spanish
territory to wipe out the "Negro Fort"
at Apalachicola.
11
A Comparative Timeline of General American History and Florida History, 1492 to 1823
1817 Gregor McGregor, an adventurer
in the pay of Spanish
liberationists, seizes Amelia
Island in East Florida. Reacting to
McGregor's take-over, American
forces again occupy Amelia
Island on behalf of the United
States.
1817 James Monroe becomes president of
the United States. Andrew Jackson
(1818) leads troops into Florida to
destroy the towns of Indians who have
met force with force on the frontiers.
1819 Spain agrees in principle to cede East
and West Florida to the United States.
1821 The Spanish Floridas are merged
into a single American territory
with a new capital at Tallahassee.
Andrew Jackson becomes the first
(absentee) governor.
1821 A treaty acknowledging the transfer is
ratified.
1823 President James Monroe outlines the
Monroe Doctrine, that no European
power will be allowed to establish
colonies in the Western Hemisphere.
The remains of the city gate of St. Augustine.
12