Early Florida History

Florida Special Report Notes

8th Grade History

The First Floridians• About 10,000 years ago the earth began to cool, and

this period is known as the Ice Age– Most of the earth’s water was frozen in huge ice sheets

called glaciers• These glaciers froze up so much water that the sea levels were 350

feet lower than they are today– Florida was much larger in land than it is today, and animals migrated into Florida

to avoid the ice

– The earliest Floridians were nomads, or people who move from place to place in search of food

• These people made weapons of stone and hunted Mammoths and Mastodons

– By the 1500’s Native Americans had developed a complex civilization, and Florida was home to many Native Tribes

– Florida was home to the following tribes:• Timucua and Apalachee who lived in North Florida and were farmers

– Jeagas who lived in southeastern Florida and fished and hunted» Tequesta who lived in southern Florida and gathered food from the land

around them» Tocobaga who lived in the Tampa area who hunted and farmed

La Florida• The first European to land in Florida was Juan Ponce

de Leon– He landed on the east coast of Florida and named the land

“La Florida” after Pascua Florida or Flowery Easter, which is a holiday in Spain

• Ponce de Leon tried to set up a settlement in Florida, but his settlement was attacked by the Calusas

– Ponce de Leon and his soldiers retreated to Havana, Cuba where he died of an arrow injury

– Many other Spaniards tried to colonize Florida• Some of these expeditions believed that there was gold in Florida,

and some wanted to conquer the native people– These men are known as conquistadors or conquerors– The Spanish also established missions

– Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer who landed in Florida

• His goal was to search for riches in the new land– He traveled from Tampa Bay all the way to Northern Mississippi

» De Soto died along the Mississippi River, and his expedition was a failure, but he was the first European to explore the mainland of North America

Juan Ponce de Leon and Hernando de Soto

St. Augustine• Fort Caroline was founded by the French near modern

day Jacksonville, and was a French stronghold– St. Augustine was founded by Pedro Menendez de Aviles

and was a Spanish garrison, or military fort, and is the oldest permanent settlement in the United States

• The King of Spain ordered Aviles to destroy Ft. Caroline and remove the French from Florida

– Aviles attacked the fort and killed all the French living there

• Sir Francis Drake, a British privateer, or legal pirate would frequently raid St. Augustine– Because of these raids, the Spanish built a fort named

Castillo de San Marcos, to protect the citizens of St. Augustine from attack

• These events would spark rivalry between the three nations over Florida, but Spain owned the territory

Castillo de San Marcos

British Florida• Britain and France were at war with one another in the

French and Indian War and the Spanish sided with the French– During this war, Britain captured the city of Havana, Cuba;

which was a major Spanish port – At the end of the war, the Spanish traded the whole Florida

territory to the British to get Havana back• The British agreed to this, and took control of Florida• Florida was split into two colonies West Florida and East Florida (the

14th and 15th colonies) • These colonies did not rebel against Britain, and remained loyal

throughout the Revolution

– The British ruled Florida from this time to the end of the Revolutionary War

• At the end of the Revolutionary war Britain agreed to give Florida back to the Spanish

A Battle in the French and Indian War

Florida as a US Territory• The United States fought in the Spanish American

War, against Spain– At the end of the war, the US signed the Adams-Onís Treaty

in which they agreed to give Texas to Spain, in exchange for Florida

• The US took possession of the territory, and ran into problems with the native people of Florida– The Seminole Indians were an Indian tribe that was a

mixture of other tribes and escaped slaves• The US wanted to get rid of the Seminole Indians in Florida, and took

part in three wars against them, spending 10 years and 20 million dollars trying to do so

– Many of the Seminole were forced to move to Oklahoma, but some survived by moving into the Everglades

• In 1837 the territory of Florida was home to 48,000 people– These people started to petition the US government to allow

Florida to become a state

Chief Osceola and General Andrew Jackson

Leader of the Seminole in the Seminole Wars

Leader of the US army in the Seminole Wars

Florida as a US State• Florida became a state on March 3rd, 1845

– More than half the population of the state at that time were black slaves working on plantations

– It was for this reason that Florida joined the rest of the Southern Slave States and seceded from the Union when Abraham Lincoln was elected

• To secede means to leave a government and become an independent state

• There were many civil war battles throughout Florida including the Battle of Gainesville and the Battle of Natural Bridge

• After the war, Florida entered Reconstruction, or the reorganization and rebuilding of the Southern States– Like most of the South, Florida had laws which required

segregation, or the separation or isolation of a race

Reenactment of the Battle of Natural Bridge

The Tourism Industry• With the invention of the Railroad, Florida became one

of the most popular tourist destinations in all of the United States– Henry Flagler built railroads from Jacksonville to Miami, and

also built hotels along the routes– Henry Plant built railroads and hotels from Jacksonville to

Tampa• This stimulated business in Western Florida • These railroads would bring tourists and transplants into Florida until

the development of the automobile

– In the 1930’s Florida would see it’s first theme park; Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven

– Walt Disney World opened in Central Florida in 1971• This would make Florida a popular tourism destination and spur a

billion dollar industry• Today tourism is the largest industry in Florida and it generates $3

billion in state sales tax revenue, or incoming money

Henry Flagler and Henry Plant

The Population Boom• In 1900 Florida had a population of 528,000, but by

1925 that population was 1,263,000– The population today is 18,089,888 and the population has

grown due to the following reasons:• Railroads: People like Henry Flagler building railroads into Florida

made the state accessible to the rest of the population• Air Conditioning: A Florida Physician named Dr. John Gorrie used

compressed ice to keep his patients cool in Apalachicola – This invention was improved by Willis Havaland Carrier and soon

became affordable– This made living in the Florida heat more comfortable for masses of

people

• The Interstate Highway System: President Dwight D. Eisenhower started building highways for ease of transportation and national defense

– With Florida’s proximity to communist Cuba, a road leading to Florida was a necessity

– Tourists and transplants would start using these roads to begin the tourist industry and the population boom

The Interstate Highway System

Aerospace and Military• Around the time of World War II, the US Air

Force and Navy used many cities in Florida as their bases– One of the largest of these bases was Eglin Air

Force Base in the panhandle• The number of military bases would increase during the

cold war, due to Florida’s close proximity to communist Cuba

– Cape Canaveral started out as a missile test facility for the Air Force

• When the Space Race started, it was converted into a rocket launching and preparation facility

• Today, Cape Canaveral is home to the Kennedy Space Center, and has been the launching point for every manned space flight in the history of the US

Kennedy Space Center and Eglin Air Force Base

Modern Florida• Today, Florida is experiencing a massive population explosion

or a large migration of people into one specific area– In the year 1950, Florida was ranked 20th in the nation in population;

today it is ranked 4th

• Florida faces natural threats in the form of Hurricanes– Hurricane Andrew, which struck Homestead in 1992 had caused the

most damage in US history, until 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans

– Florida also faces environmental issues, such as protecting the everglades and drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico

• Florida has also had many political leaders:– Mary McLeod Bethune: founded a school for African American children

and founded Bethune Cookman, an African American College– Harry Moore: organized the first Florida chapter of the NAACP and

worked to register African Americans to vote– Claude Pepper: became a spokesperson for the elderly within the

Florida government– Bob Graham: governor of Florida who worked to preserve Florida’s

rivers and beaches

Hurricane Andrew

Did You Know?• Many of the cities in Florida are named by the

Natives and some were named by the Spanish, see if you can tell which is which:– Boca Raton: Rat’s Mouth– Hialeah: Pretty Prairie– Homosassa: Place where the wild peppers grow– Islamorada: Purple Island– Kissimmee: Heaven’s Place– Miami: All Friends– Punta Gorda: Fat Point– Weeki Wachee: Little Spring