Florida, state, United States: Early Spanish and French Exploration
Early Spanish and French Exploration
Although the Florida peninsula was probably sighted by earlier navigators, the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León is credited as the first European to visit the area. Landing near the site of Saint Augustine in 1513, he claimed the area, which he thought was an island, for Spain, naming it Florida, probably because it was then the Easter season (
It was the activity of the French in the area, however, that led to actual Spanish settlement of the Florida peninsula. In May, 1562, Jean Ribaut had discovered the St. Johns River, and two years later René de Laudonnière built Fort Caroline at its mouth. Alarmed at this encroachment by the French, Philip II of Spain commissioned Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to drive the French out of the area; this he did ruthlessly. Spanish colonization began when Menéndez founded St. Augustine in 1565. Florida had no precious metals to spur conquest (as in Mexico and Peru), its soil seemed infertile (Spanish Florida was never self-sufficient agriculturally), and the Native Americans resented their encroachment. However, the Spanish were compelled to hold Florida because of its strategic location along the Straits of Florida, through which rich treasure ships from the south sailed for Spain.
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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