Florida History - Occupation
Florida's first inhabitants arrived about 12,000 years ago when the land of the peninsula was rich in prehistoric flora and fauna including giant armadillo, saber-tooth tiger, mastodon, and primitive mammals, ancestors of modern ones roaming the state.
However, the coastline that runs from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico was topographically different. In early days, the size of the peninsula was about twice its present extension due to the level of the sea, which a thousand years ago was lower than it is in present days.
Early occupation consisted of tribes of hunters and gatherers pursuing for food, particularly nuts, plants, shellfish, and small animals so the first settlements appeared nearby bodies of water around the region, particularly in places where firewood and stone resources were available.
That early stage of civilization evolved to complex cultures that developed cultivated agriculture and traded with other natives of the southeastern territory. Such activity generated a social organization in which the first villages and temples were built prior the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century.
The first Spanish adventurer and explorer Juan Ponce de León arrived in 1521 to the northeastern coast of Florida, probably near the location of St. Augustine today. Although the exact date is not clear, his arrival coincided with April's Easter celebration, which the Spanish name is "Pascua Florida" ("feast of the flowers") so he named the land Florida to honor this festivity.
In 1521, Ponce de León returned with a contingent to settle the southwestern coast of the peninsula, but native tribes attacked them and eventually only missionaries, treasure seekers, and other explorers dared to survey the area.
After a French attempt to colonize the peninsula, in 1565 Spanish explorer Pedro Menéndez de Avilés succeeded creating a Spanish settlement in San Augustín (St. Augustine). During the late 16th century, Spanish, French, and English battled for the new found land.
The first English troops arrived in 1586 with Captain Sir Francis Drake, but Spain's power over the peninsula was overwhelming and the first English settlers choose to establish their first colonies in the present states of Virginia and Massachusetts between 1607 and 1620.
Even though, English colonists were seeking the vast natural treasures of Florida, they finally pushed most of the Spanish and French troops to the southern regions and many dropped out to Mexico and Cuba before the end of the 17th century.
In 1702, the English colonists in the Carolina colonies joined forces with the Creek Indians to attack the Spanish Florida commanded by Colonel James Moore, totally destroying the town of St. Augustine, and continuing the battling along with French troops to gain control of this territory
In 1763, Great Britain exchanged Florida for Cuba, which was captured from Spain seven years before. The Spanish colonists left the peninsula, although eventually there would be a second Spanish domination period before the end of the century.
With the newly formed United States in 1776, Spain diminished its control over Florida until it was formally ceded in 1821 after the terms of the Adams-Onís Treaty.