|
3 years, 11 months, 5 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
Drawn from Florida's Spanish Colonial Past 1565-1821, an educational poster prepared by the Florida Humanities Council for teacher workshops conducted by the Council in St. Augustine titled Between Columbus and Jamestown: Spanish St. Augustine. Additional St. Augustine resources including lesson plans, readings, maps, artwork and PDF versions of this poster, in both English and Spanish, can be found at www.flahum.org/colonial.
Spanish Florida- Its Beginnings [1513-1574]
Early explorers of Florida-Juan Ponce de Leon, Pánfilo de Narváez, and Hernando de Soto-also tried to conquer by force. They learned that Florida was divided into many native regions.
The largest were those of the Calusa (based around Charlotte Harbor), Apalachee (around modern- day Tallahassee), and Timucua (north- central and northeastern Florida).
Initially, Spanish expeditions stayed near the coasts or moved through Florida without stopping. Tristan de Luna y Arrellano tried to establish a town at Pensacola in 1559 but his settlement lasted only a few years.
In 1565 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés arrived in Florida with orders to find and destroy a French settlement and found one of his own. He established the town of St. Augustine. The following year, he created another town, Santa Elena, on the coast of today's South Carolina.
Throughout Menéndez's life, these settlements remained small. Florida would only become a true colony of Spain in the 1600s as missionaries began to travel into native lands.
Spanish Florida Develops [1574-1680]
The 1600s in Florida is called "The Mission Period." Franciscan friars spread out to preach Christianity among native peoples.
In some ways the friars were scouts-sent out to see how groups like the Guale, Timucua, and Apalachee would react to Spanish settlers and their religion. Many native groups wanted nothing to do with the friars.Others were willing to listen and a few invited friars into their lands.
The largest and most successful mission was the mission of San Luis among the Apalachee. It was unique as a combined Spanish and Native American town. San Luis had a church and a fort, but also a traditional council house where Apalachee leaders met to discuss daily business.
By 1635, there were 41 missions in Florida, and some 30,000 native men, women, and children lived at them. But this did not mean the mission residents were always friendly to Spanish rule.
If Spanish officials interfered too much in their lives, they would rise in revolt. There was a major Apalachee revolt in 1647 and another among the Timucua in 1655.
Image: San Luis Mission, Tallahassee, from Southern History | 
