Early Florida History

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Early Florida History

• Florida Special Report Notes
• 8th Grade History

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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 earths 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 1500s 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

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• Where the Florida tribes lived

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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
• 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

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Juan Ponce de Leon and Hernando de Soto
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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

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Castillo de San Marcos
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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

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A Battle in the French and Indian War
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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

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Chief Osceola and General Andrew Jackson
Leader of the Seminole in the Seminole Wars
Leader of the US army in the Seminole Wars
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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

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Reenactment of the Battle of Natural Bridge
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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 1930s Florida would see its 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

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Henry Flagler and Henry Plant
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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 Floridas 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

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The Interstate Highway System
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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 Floridas 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

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Kennedy Space Center and Eglin Air Force Base
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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 Floridas rivers and beaches

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Hurricane Andrew
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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 Rats Mouth
• Hialeah Pretty Prairie
• Homosassa Place where the wild peppers grow
• Islamorada Purple Island
• Kissimmee Heavens Place
• Miami All Friends
• Punta Gorda Fat Point
• Weeki Wachee Little Spring