Florida, state, United States: English Colonization

In the 1600s the English, who were trying to expand their American colonial holdings after 1607, began to threaten Florida. St. Augustine was attacked several times by English corsairs and in 1702–3 was besieged by a force from the English colony in South Carolina. In 1742, English colonists from Georgia under James Oglethorpe, Georgia's founder, defeated the Spanish in the battle of Bloody Marsh on St. Simons Island, making Florida's northern boundary the St. Marys River. Spain's last-minute entry (1762) into the Seven Years War cost her Florida, which the British acquired through the Treaty of Paris (1763).

Under the British (1763–83), Florida was divided into two provinces, and St. Augustine and Pensacola were respectively made the capitals of East Florida and West Florida. After the American Revolution, the Treaty of Paris (1783) returned Florida to Spain. Many colonists in Florida abandoned the region and moved to British possessions in the West Indies. Spain's hold over Florida, however, was extremely tenuous. Boundary disputes developed with the United States (see West Florida Controversy). In the War of 1812, Pensacola served as a British base until captured (1814) by U.S. General Andrew Jackson.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• The Late 20th and Early 21st Centuries
• Relations with Latin America and the Caribbean
• From Depression to Postwar Growth
• Land Booms
• Statehood, Civil War, and Reconstruction
• U.S. Occupation
• English Colonization
• Early Spanish and French Exploration
• Government, Politics, and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures

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