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163-658: During the first Spanish period in Florida the Aucilla River was the boundary between the Apalachee people and the Timucua-speaking Yustaga (or Uzachile) people. The name "Aucilla" refers to an old Timucua village. The Aucilla River flows across a karst landscape, disappearing underground and then reappearing , first at Howell Sinks near Boston, Georgia , and then approximately 30 times in

326-655: A mare clausum policy in the Atlantic. The king, who had been inquiring of Genoese experts about a seaway to India, commissioned the Fra Mauro world map , which arrived in Lisbon in 1459. In 1456, Diogo Gomes reached the Cape Verde archipelago. In the next decade captains at the service of Prince Henry, discovered the remaining islands which were occupied during the 15th century. The Gulf of Guinea would be reached in

489-459: A Timucua group, and was at the center of an important chiefdom in the late 16th and 17th century. A series of missions were then established across the Florida panhandle , Georgia , and South Carolina during the 1600s; and Pensacola was founded on the western Florida panhandle in 1698, strengthening Spanish claims to that section of the territory. Spanish control of the Florida peninsula

652-675: A Castilian armada of 35 caravels, and a Portuguese fleet for the hegemony of the Guinea trade (gold, slaves, ivory, and malagueta pepper). The war ended with a Portuguese naval victory, followed by the official recognition by the Catholic Monarchs of Portuguese sovereignty over most of the disputed West African territories embodied in the Treaty of Alcáçovas, 1479. This was the first colonial war among European powers. In 1481, João II decided to build São Jorge da Mina factory . In 1482

815-508: A Muslim merchant to India and Southeast Asia. In 1466–1472, Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin of Tver travelled to India, which he described in his book A Journey Beyond the Three Seas . These overland journeys had little immediate effect. The Mongol Empire collapsed almost as quickly as it formed and soon the route to the east became more difficult and dangerous. The Black Death of the 14th century also blocked travel and trade for

978-677: A Venetian merchant, dictated an account of journeys throughout Asia from 1271 to 1295, describing being a guest at the Yuan dynasty court of Kublai Khan in Travels . It was read throughout Europe. The Muslim fleet guarding the Strait of Gibraltar was defeated by Genoa in 1291. In that year, the Genoese attempted their first Atlantic exploration when merchant brothers Vadino and Ugolino Vivaldi sailed from Genoa with two galleys, but disappeared off

1141-458: A band of settlers to found St. Augustine . Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales, the chaplain of the expedition, celebrated the first Thanksgiving Mass on the grounds. The formal Franciscan outpost, Mission Nombre de Dios , was founded at the landing point, perhaps the first mission in what would become the continental United States . The mission served nearby villages of the Mocama ,

1304-522: A book of supposed travels compiled by John Mandeville acquired popularity. Despite the unreliable and often fantastical nature of its accounts, it was used as a reference for the East, Egypt, and the Levant in general, asserting the old belief that Jerusalem was the centre of the world . Following the period of Timurid relations with Europe , in 1439, Niccolò de' Conti published an account of his travels as

1467-685: A circuit from the New World to Asia (starting in 1500 by Pedro Álvares Cabral ), and explored islands in the South Atlantic and Southern Indian Oceans. The Portuguese sailed further eastward, to the valuable Spice Islands in 1512, landing in China one year later. Japan was reached by the Portuguese in 1543. In 1513, Spanish Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and reached

1630-512: A circuitous route through the roughest country they could find. In any case, the expedition did not find the larger Apalachee towns. By the time the expedition reached Aute, a town near the Gulf Coast, it had been under attack by Indian archers for many days. Plagued by illness, short rations, and hostile Indians, Narváez decided to sail to Mexico rather than attempt an overland march. Two hundred and forty-two men set sail on five crude rafts. All

1793-613: A commission to drive non-Spanish adventurers from all of the land from Newfoundland to St. Joseph Bay (on the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico ). Menéndez de Avilés reached Florida at the same time as Ribault in 1565, and established a base at San Agustín (St. Augustine in English), the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in what is now the continental United States. Menéndez de Avilés quickly set out to attack Fort Caroline, traveling overland from St. Augustine. At

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1956-545: A confederation of merchant guilds and their towns in north Germany, along the North Sea and Baltic Sea, was instrumental in the commercial development of the region. In the 12th century, the regions of Flanders , Hainault , and Brabant produced the finest quality textiles in northwest Europe, which encouraged merchants from Genoa and Venice to sail there from the Mediterranean, through the Strait of Gibraltar, and up

2119-743: A constant deficit in silver and gold , as it only went out, spent on eastern trade now cut off. Several European mines were exhausted, The lack of bullion led to the development of a complex banking system to manage the risks in trade (the first state bank, Banco di San Giorgio , was founded in 1407 at Genoa). Sailing also into the ports of Bruges (Flanders) and England, Genoese communities were then established in Portugal, who profited from their enterprise and financial expertise. European sailing had been primarily close to land cabotage , guided by portolan charts . These charts specified proven ocean routes guided by coastal landmarks: sailors departed from

2282-571: A distinct period of time. Published in 1496 by the Jewish astronomer, astrologer, and mathematician Abraham Zacuto , the Almanac Perpetuum included some of these tables for the movements of stars. These tables revolutionized navigation, allowing the calculation of latitude . Exact longitude remained elusive from mariners for centuries. Using the caravel, systematic exploration continued ever more southerly, advancing on average one degree

2445-475: A drastic decline in the population of all the indigenous peoples of Florida , and large swaths of the peninsula were mostly uninhabited by the early 1700s. During the mid-1700s, small bands of Creek and other Native American refugees began moving south into Spanish Florida after having been forced off their lands by South Carolinan settlements and raids. They were later joined by African-Americans fleeing slavery in nearby colonies. These newcomers – plus perhaps

2608-480: A few surviving descendants of indigenous Florida peoples – eventually coalesced into a new Seminole culture. The extent of Spanish Florida began to shrink in the 1600s, and the mission system was gradually abandoned due to native depopulation. Between disease, poor management, and ill-timed hurricanes, several Spanish attempts to establish new settlements in La Florida ended in failure. With no gold or silver in

2771-542: A fortification that was under construction, while returning from raiding Santo Domingo and Cartagena in the Caribbean. His raids exposed Spain's inability to properly defend her settlements. The Jesuits had begun establishing missions to the Native Americans in Florida in 1567, but withdrew in 1572 after hostile encounters with the natives. In 1573 Franciscans assumed responsibility for missions to

2934-720: A hurricane in 1752, the Spanish relocated to the Presidio San Miguel de Panzacola, which developed into the city of Pensacola . In 1718, the Spanish founded the Presidio San Marcos de Apalachee at the existing port of San Marcos, under the authority of the governor in St. Augustine. This presidio developed into the town of St. Marks . Some Spanish men married or had unions with Pensacola, Creek, or African women, both slave and free, and their descendants created

3097-562: A known point, followed a compass heading, and tried to identify their location by its landmarks. For the first oceanic exploration Western Europeans used the compass, as well as progressive new advances in cartography and astronomy. Arab navigational tools like the astrolabe and quadrant were used for celestial navigation . The Muslim lands in Asia were generally more economically developed and had better infrastructure than Europe at this time, despite Europe's economic changes brought about by

3260-503: A mission to establish colonies at Ochuse ( Pensacola Bay ) and Santa Elena ( Port Royal Sound ). The plan was to land everybody at Ochuse, with most of the colonists marching overland to Santa Elena. A tropical storm struck five days after the fleet's arrival at the Bay of Ochuse, sinking ten of the thirteen ships along with the supplies that had not yet been unloaded. Expeditions into the interior failed to find adequate supplies of food. Most of

3423-540: A mixed-race population of mestizos and mulattos . The Spanish encouraged slaves from the southern colonies to come to Florida as a refuge, promising freedom in exchange for conversion to Catholicism . In 1693, King Charles II of Spain issued a royal proclamation freeing all slaves who fled to Spanish Florida and accepted conversion and baptism. Most went to the area around St. Augustine, but escaped slaves also reached Pensacola. St. Augustine had mustered an all-black militia unit defending Spain as early as 1683. During

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3586-571: A personal interest in exports. In 1317, he made an agreement with Genoese merchant sailor Manuel Pessanha , appointing him first admiral of the Portuguese Navy , to defend the country against Muslim pirate raids. Outbreaks of bubonic plague led to severe depopulation in the second half of the 14th century: only the sea offered alternatives, with most population settling in fishing and trading coastal areas. Between 1325 and 1357, Afonso IV of Portugal encouraged maritime commerce and ordered

3749-689: A result of the Anglo-Spanish War when the British captured Havana, the principal port of Spain's New World colonies. Peace was signed in February, 1763, and the British left Cuba in July that year, having traded Cuba to Spain for Florida (the Spanish population of Florida likewise traded positions and emigrated to the island). But while Britain occupied Floridan territory, it did not develop it further. Sparsely populated British Florida stayed loyal to

3912-528: A resupplying mission by Ribault failed to arrive, threatening the colony. Some mutineers fled Fort Caroline to engage in piracy against Spanish colonies, causing alarm among the Spanish government. Laudonnière nearly abandoned the colony in 1565, but Jean Ribault finally arrived with supplies and new settlers in August. At the same time, in response to French activities, King Philip II of Spain appointed Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Adelantado of Florida, with

4075-456: A small island (almost certainly one of the Bahamas ) but did not land. On April 2, he spotted the east coast of the Florida peninsula and went ashore the next day at an exact location that has been lost to time. Assuming that he had found a large island, he claimed the land for Spain and named it La Florida , because it was the season of Pascua Florida ("Flowery Easter") and because much of

4238-508: A time. Religion played a critical role in motivating European expansionism . In 1487, Portuguese envoys Pero da Covilhã and Afonso de Paiva were sent on a covert mission to gather intelligence on a potential sea route to India and inquire about Prester John , a Nestorian patriarch and king, believed to rule over parts of the subcontinent. Covilhã was warmly received upon his arrival in Ethiopia, but forbidden from leaving. During

4401-744: A year. Senegal and Cape Verde Peninsula were reached in 1445 and in 1446, Álvaro Fernandes pushed on almost as far as present-day Sierra Leone . In 1453, the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans was a perceived blow to Christendom and established business links with the East. In 1455, Pope Nicholas V issued the bull Romanus Pontifex reinforcing the previous Dum Diversas (1452), granting all lands and seas discovered beyond Cape Bojador to King Afonso V of Portugal and his successors, as well as mostly cutting off trade to and permitting conquest and increased war against Muslims and pagans, initiating

4564-469: Is generally credited as being the first European to discover Florida. However, that may not have been the case. Spanish raiders from the Caribbean may have conducted small secret raids in Florida to capture and enslave native Floridians at some time between 1500 and 1510. Furthermore, the Portuguese Cantino planisphere of 1502 and several other European maps dating from the first decade of

4727-579: Is historically safe to assert that Catholic Mass was celebrated in what is today the United States for the first time by these Dominicans, even though the specific date and location remains unclear. In 1527, Pánfilo de Narváez left Spain with five ships and about 600 people (including the Moroccan slave Mustafa Azemmouri ) on a mission to explore and to settle the coast of the Gulf of Mexico between

4890-635: Is likely this last expedition reached as far as Madagascar . The travels were reported by Ma Huan , a Muslim voyager and translator who accompanied Zheng He on three of the expeditions, his account published as the Yingya Shenglan (Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores) (1433). The voyages had a significant and lasting effect on the organization of a maritime network , using and creating nodes and conduits in its wake, thereby restructuring international and cross-cultural relationships and exchanges. It

5053-490: Is now Parris Island, South Carolina , in 1562. However, the French Wars of Religion prevented Ribault from returning to resupply the fort, and the men abandoned it. Two years later, René Goulaine de Laudonnière , Ribault's lieutenant on the previous voyage, set out to found a haven for Protestant Huguenot colonists in Florida. He founded Fort Caroline at what is now Jacksonville in July 1564. Once again, however,

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5216-776: Is now Georgia and South Carolina into North Carolina , then turned westward, crossed the Great Smoky Mountains into Tennessee , then marched south into Georgia. Turning westward again, the expedition crossed Alabama . They lost all of their baggage in a fight with Indians near Choctaw Bluff on the Alabama River , and spent the winter in Mississippi . In May 1541, the expedition crossed the Mississippi River and wandered through present-day Arkansas , Missouri and possibly Kansas before spending

5379-533: Is recorded of his meeting with great Indian caciques (chiefs). Ybarra (Ibarra) in 1605 sent Álvaro Mexía , a cartographer, on a mission further South to meet and develop diplomatic ties with the Ais Indian nation, and to make a map of the region. His mission was successful. In February 1647, the Apalachee revolted. The revolt changed the relationship between Spanish authorities and the Apalachee. Following

5542-584: The Age of Exploration , has been scrutinized through reflections on the exploration . Its understanding and use, has been discussed as being framed and used for colonial ventures, discrimination and exploitation , by combining it with concepts such as the " frontier " (as in Frontier Thesis ) and manifest destiny , up to the contemporary age of space exploration . Alternatively, the term contact , as in first contact , has been used to shed more light on

5705-410: The Age of Exploration , was part of the early modern period and largely overlapped with the Age of Sail . It was a period from approximately the late 15th century to the 17th century, during which seafarers from a number of European countries explored, colonized, and conquered regions across the globe. The Age of Discovery was a transformative period in world history when previously isolated parts of

5868-487: The Black Death allowing for more freedoms for lower- and upper-class people. The gunpowder empires concealed knowledge to European Christian traders about where lucrative locations such as Indonesia were, spurring a further desire for Christian trade with other Muslim nations besides the gunpowder empires despite European Christians generally having antipathy towards Muslims. In 1297, King Denis of Portugal took

6031-477: The Carolina and Virginia colonies gradually pushed the frontier of Spanish Florida south. In the early 18th century, French settlements along the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast encroached on the western borders of the Spanish claim. Starting in 1680, Carolina colonists and their Native American allies repeatedly attacked Spanish mission villages and St. Augustine, burning missions and killing or kidnapping

6194-603: The Christian reconquest of Al-Andalus in what is now southern Spain and the siege of Lisbon (1147 AD), in Portugal. The decline of Fatimid Caliphate naval strength, which started before the First Crusade , helped the maritime Italian states, mainly Venice, Genoa and Pisa, dominate trade in the Eastern Mediterranean , with merchants there becoming wealthy and politically influential. Further changing

6357-588: The Congo River was explored by Diogo Cão , who in 1486 continued to Cape Cross (modern Namibia ). The next crucial breakthrough was in 1488, when Bartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa, which he named Cabo das Tormentas, "Cape of Storms", anchoring at Mossel Bay and then sailing east as far as the mouth of the Great Fish River , proving the Indian Ocean was accessible from

6520-539: The First Seminole War . As with earlier American incursions into Florida, Spain protested this invasion but could not defend its territory, and instead opened diplomatic negotiations seeking a peaceful transfer of land. By the terms of the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, Spanish Florida ceased to exist in 1821, when control of the territory was officially transferred to the United States. Juan Ponce de León

6683-477: The Florida Parishes of Louisiana . Spain based its claim to this vast area on several wide-ranging expeditions mounted during the 16th century. A number of missions, settlements, and small forts existed in the 16th and to a lesser extent in the 17th century; they were eventually abandoned due to pressure from the expanding English and French colonial settlements, the collapse of the native populations, and

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6846-613: The Indies , by crossing the Atlantic. Columbus encountered a continent uncharted by Europeans (though it had been explored and temporarily colonized by the Norse 500 years earlier). Later, it was called America after Amerigo Vespucci , a trader working for Portugal . Portugal quickly claimed those lands under the terms of the Treaty of Alcáçovas , but Castile was able to persuade the Pope, who

7009-523: The Levant raised curiosity and commercial interest in countries which lay further east. There are a few accounts of merchants from North Africa and the Mediterranean, who traded in the Indian Ocean in late medieval times. Christian embassies were sent as far as Karakorum during the Mongol invasions of the Levant , from which they gained a greater understanding of the world. The first of these travellers

7172-681: The New World . By the late 16th and 17th centuries, the latter's presence increased as they sought to reassert their power and revive the Catholic culture of Europe, which had been damaged by the Reformation . The Chinese had wide connections through trade in Asia and been sailing to Arabia , East Africa , and Egypt since the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907). Between 1405-21, the third Ming emperor Yongle sponsored long range tributary missions in

7335-584: The discovery doctrine , expounded by the US Supreme Court in 1823, draws on assertions of European powers' right to claim land during their explorations. The concept of "discovery" has been used to enforce colonial claiming and discovery, but has been challenged by indigenous peoples and researchers. Many indigenous peoples have fundamentally challenged the concept of colonial claiming of "discovery" over their lands and people, as forced and negating indigenous presence. The period alternatively called

7498-690: The exploration of the polar regions in the 20th century. European exploration initiated the Columbian exchange between the Old World (Europe, Asia, and Africa) and the New World (the Americas and Australia). This exchange involved the transfer of plants, animals, human populations (including slaves ), communicable diseases , and culture across the Eastern and Western Hemispheres . The Age of Discovery and European exploration involved mapping of

7661-424: The "other sea" from the New World. Thus, Europe first received news of the eastern and western Pacific within a one-year span around 1512. East and west exploration overlapped in 1522, when a Spanish expedition sailing westward, led by Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan and, after his death by navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano , completed the first circumnavigation of the world. Spanish conquistadors explored

7824-617: The 11th century. It was adopted by Arab traders in the Indian Ocean. The compass spread to Europe by the late 12th or early 13th century. Use of the compass for navigation in the Indian Ocean was first mentioned in 1232. The first mention of use of the compass in Europe was in 1180. The Europeans used a "dry" compass, with a needle on a pivot. The compass card was also a European invention. Ships grew in size, required smaller crews and were able to sail longer distances without stopping. This led to significant lower long-distance shipping costs by

7987-562: The 1460s. In 1460, Pedro de Sintra reached Sierra Leone. Prince Henry died in November of that year after which, given the meagre revenues, exploration was granted to Lisbon merchant Fernão Gomes in 1469, who in exchange for the monopoly of trade in the Gulf of Guinea had to explore 100 miles (161 kilometres) each year for five years. With his sponsorship, explorers João de Santarém , Pedro Escobar , Lopo Gonçalves, Fernão do Pó , and Pedro de Sintra made it beyond those goals. They reached

8150-544: The 14th century. Cogs remained popular for trade because of their low cost. Galleys were also used in trade. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea , a document from 40-60 AD, describes a newly discovered route through the Red Sea to India, with descriptions of the markets in towns around Red Sea, Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, including along the east coast of Africa, which states "for beyond these places

8313-605: The 16th century show a landmass near Cuba that several historians have identified as Florida. This interpretation has led to the theory that anonymous Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to map the southeastern portion of the future United States, including Florida. This view is disputed by at least an equal number of historians. In 1512, Juan Ponce de León, governor of Puerto Rico , received royal permission to search for land north of Cuba. On March 3, 1513, his expedition departed from Punta Aguada , Puerto Rico, sailing north in three ships. In late March, he spotted

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8476-708: The 18th century, the Native American peoples who would become the Seminoles began their migration to Florida, which had been largely depopulated by Carolinian and Yamasee slave raids. Carolina's power was damaged, and the colony nearly destroyed, during the Yamasee War of 1715–1717; after which the Native American slave trade was radically reformed. In 1763, Spain traded Florida to Great Britain in exchange for control of Havana , Cuba, and Manila in

8639-475: The 21st century has its origins in the expansion of trade networks during this era. The exploration also created colonial empires and marked an increased adoption of colonialism as a government policy in several European states. As such, it is sometimes synonymous with the first wave of European colonization . The colonization reshaped power dynamics causing geopolitical shifts in Europe and creating new centers of power beyond Europe. Having set human history on

8802-408: The Aegean, Bosporus, and Black Sea. The Venetians and other maritime republics maintained more limited access to Asian goods, via south-eastern Mediterranean trade, in such ports as Antioch, Acre, and Alexandria. Forced to reduce their activities in the Black Sea, and at war with Venice, the Genoese had turned to North African trade of wheat, olive oil and a search for silver and gold. Europeans had

8965-463: The Arab seamen, and its southern extent was unknown. There were reports of great African Sahara , but the knowledge was limited for the Europeans, to the Mediterranean coast and little else, since the Arab blockade of North Africa precluded exploration inland. Knowledge about the Atlantic African coast was fragmented and derived mainly from old Greek and Roman maps based on Carthaginian knowledge, including Roman exploration of Mauritania . The Red Sea

9128-460: The Atlantic coast. Nicolòzzo Spinola made the first recorded direct voyage from Genoa to Flanders in 1277. Technological advancements that were important to the Age of Exploration were the adoption of the magnetic compass and advances in ship design. The compass was an addition to the ancient method of navigation based on sightings of the sun and stars. It was invented during the Chinese Han dynasty and had been used for navigation in China by

9291-431: The Atlantic. Simultaneously Pero da Covilhã , sent out travelling secretly overland, had reached Ethiopia having collected important information about the Red Sea and Quenia coast, suggesting a sea route to the Indies would soon be forthcoming. Soon the cape was renamed by King John II of Portugal the " Cape of Good Hope ", because of the great optimism engendered by the possibility of a sea route to India, proving false

9454-407: The Canary Islands in 1402 but became distracted by internal Iberian politics and the repelling of Islamic invasion attempts and raids through most of the 15th century. Late in the century, following the unification of the crowns of Castile and Aragon, an emerging modern Spain became fully committed to the search for new trade routes overseas. The Crown of Aragon had been an important maritime power in

9617-410: The Crown during the American Revolutionary War , and by the terms of the Treaty of Paris which ended the war, the territory was returned to Spain in 1783. After a brief diplomatic border dispute with the fledgling United States, the countries set a territorial border and allowed Americans free navigation of the Mississippi River by the terms of Pinckney's Treaty in 1795. France sold Louisiana to

9780-535: The European Age of Discovery . La Florida formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba in the Viceroyalty of New Spain , and the Spanish Empire during Spanish colonization of the Americas . While its boundaries were never clearly or formally defined, the territory was initially much larger than the present-day state of Florida , extending over much of what is now the southeastern United States , including all of present-day Florida plus portions of Georgia, South Carolina , North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and

9943-409: The Europeans had a significant impact on the natives, along with the rising power of the French and British. During the Queen Anne's War , the British destroyed most of the missions. By 1706, the missionaries abandoned their mission outposts and returned to St. Augustine. Spanish Governor Pedro de Ibarra worked at establishing peace with the native cultures to the South of St. Augustine. An account

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10106-556: The Gulf coast towards Florida. In 1696, they founded the Presidio Santa Maria de Galve on Pensacola Bay near the present-day site of Fort Barrancas at Naval Air Station Pensacola , followed by the foundation of the Presidio Bahía San José de Valladares on St. Joseph Bay in 1701. These presidios were under the direct authority of the Viceroy of New Spain rather than the governor of Spanish Florida in St. Augustine. The French captured Bahía San José de Valladares in 1718, and Santa Maria de Galve in 1719. After losing Santa Maria de Galve,

10269-501: The Huguenots executed. The location became known as Matanzas . The 1565 marriage in St. Augustine between Luisa de Abrego, a free black domestic servant from Seville, and Miguel Rodríguez, a white Segovian conquistador, was the first known and recorded Christian marriage anywhere in what is now the continental United States. Following the expulsion of the French, the Spanish renamed Fort Caroline Fort San Mateo ( Saint Matthew ). Two years later, Dominique de Gourgues recaptured

10432-439: The Indian Ocean under the command of admiral Zheng He . A large fleet of new junk ships was prepared for the international diplomatic expeditions. The largest of these junks—that the Chinese termed bao chuan (treasure ships) —may have measured 121 metres, and thousands of sailors were involved. The first expedition departed in 1405. At least seven well-documented expeditions were launched, each bigger and more expensive than

10595-492: The Indian Ocean, tapping source regions in the Far East and shipping for trading emporiums in India, mainly Kozhikode , westward to Ormus in the Persian Gulf and Jeddah in the Red Sea . From there, overland routes led to the Mediterranean coasts. Venetian merchants distributed the goods through Europe until the rise of the Ottoman Empire , which eventually led to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, barring Europeans from some important combined-land-sea routes in areas around

10758-413: The Indian population. In 1702, James Moore led an army of colonists and a Native American force of Yamasee , Tallapoosa , Alabama , and other Creek warriors under the Yamasee chief Arratommakaw. The army attacked and razed the town of St. Augustine, but could not gain control of the fort. Moore, in 1704, made a series of raids into the Apalachee Province of Florida, looting and destroying most of

10921-405: The Indians' village, where they found corn . Further north they were met by a chief who led them to his village on the far side of the Suwannee River . The chief, Dulchanchellin, tried to enlist the Spanish as allies against his enemies, the Apalachee . Seizing Indians as guides, the Spaniards traveled northwest towards the Apalachee territory. Milanich suggests that the guides led the Spanish on

11084-414: The Lower Creeks, who had been in conflict with the Upper Creeks of Alabama for years. The Seminole originally occupied the wooded areas of northern Florida. Under pressure from colonists and the United States Army in the Seminole Wars, they migrated into central and southern Florida, to the Everglades . Many of their descendants live in this area today as one of the two federally recognized Seminole tribes in

11247-406: The Mediterranean, controlling territories in eastern Spain, southwestern France, major islands like Sicily , Malta , and the Kingdom of Naples and Sardinia , with mainland possessions as far as Greece. In 1492 the joint rulers conquered the Moorish kingdom of Granada , which had been providing Castile with African goods through tribute, and decided to fund Christopher Columbus 's expedition in

11410-458: The Middle Ages, the spread of Christianity throughout Europe fueled the desire to sermonise in lands beyond. This evangelical effort became a significant part of the military conquests of European powers, like Portugal , Spain , and France , often leading to the conversion of indigenous peoples, voluntarily or forced. Religious orders such as the Franciscans , Dominicans , Augustinians , and Jesuits partook in most missionary endeavours in

11573-436: The Ming treasure fleet generated and intensified competition among contending polities and rivals, each seeking an alliance with the Ming. The expeditions developed into a maritime trade enterprise, with imperial control over local markets and court-monitored transactions, generating revenue for China and its partners. They boosted regional trade and production, caused a supply shock in Eurasia and led to price spikes in Europe in

11736-677: The Moroccan coast, feeding fears of oceanic travel. From 1325 to 1354, a Moroccan scholar from Tangier , Ibn Battuta , journeyed through North Africa, the Sahara desert, West Africa, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, having reached China. After returning, he dictated an account to a scholar he met in Granada, The Rihla ("The Journey"), the unheralded source on his adventures. Between 1357 and 1371

11899-594: The Native Americans, eventually operating dozens of missions to the Guale , Timucua and Apalachee tribes. The missions were not without conflict, and the Guale first rebelled on October 4, 1597, in what is now coastal Georgia . The extension of the mission system also provided a military strategic advantage from British troops arriving from the North. During the hundred-plus year span of missionary expansion, disease from

12062-718: The New World" has been collected from Sloth Hole. In the early 2000s, the Paleo Aucilla project led by Dr. Michael Faught investigated the Aucilla River (the PaleoAucilla) that has been submerged by the rise in sea level since the late Pleistocene Epoch. Two important sites have been found in the ancient channel of the Aucilla River that are now underwater in Apalachee Bay, the J&;J Hunt and Ontolo sites. Currently, Dr. Jessi Halligan from Florida State University leads

12225-578: The Pacific Ocean around South America, and eventually by following the Portuguese around Africa, into the Indian Ocean; discovering Australia in 1606, New Zealand in 1642, and Hawaii in 1778. From the 1580s to the 1640s, Russians explored and conquered almost the whole of Siberia and Alaska in the 1730s. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire largely severed the connection between Europe, and lands further east, Christian Europe

12388-584: The Pacific, which later achieved the first circumnavigation of the globe between 1519 and 1522. These Spanish expeditions significantly impacted the European perceptions of the world. These discoveries led to numerous naval expeditions across the Atlantic , Indian, and Pacific Oceans , and land expeditions in the Americas, Asia , Africa , and Australia that continued into the late 19th century, followed by

12551-776: The Philippines, which had been captured by the British during the Seven Years' War . As Britain had defeated France in the war, it took over all of French Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, except for New Orleans . Finding this new territory too vast to govern as a single unit, Britain divided the southernmost areas into two territories separated by the Apalachicola River : East Florida (the peninsula) and West Florida (the panhandle). The Spanish officials, soldiers and settlers departed following

12714-681: The Portuguese maritime and trade presence in Kerala and the Indian Ocean . During the Age of Discovery, Spain sponsored and financed the transatlantic voyages of the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus , which from 1492 to 1504 marked the start of colonization in the Americas, and the expedition of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to open a route from the Atlantic Ocean to

12877-486: The Slave Canal proved to be unpopular and failed. Today, the Slave Canal is a popular paddling trail maintained by the state of Florida. The Aucilla River is a rich source of late Pleistocene and early Holocene animal bones and human artifacts . Close to 40 underwater archaeological sites have been identified in the river. The Florida Museum of Natural History 's Aucilla River Prehistory Project studied several of

13040-665: The Southern Hemisphere and islands of the Gulf of Guinea, including São Tomé and Príncipe and Elmina on the Gold Coast in 1471. There, in what came to be called the "Gold Coast" in what is today Ghana , a thriving alluvial gold trade was found among the natives, Arab and Berber traders. In 1478, during the War of the Castilian Succession , near the coast at Elmina a large battle was fought between

13203-457: The Spaniards required Apalachees who lived at the missions to send workers to St. Augustine every year to perform labor in the town. The missions were destroyed by Carolina and Creek raiders in a series of raids from 1702 to 1704, further reducing and dispersing the native population of Florida and reducing Spanish control over the area. Great Britain took possession of Florida as part of

13366-741: The Spanish established the Presidio Bahía San José de Nueva Asturias on St. Joseph Point in 1719, as well as a fort at the mouth of the Apalachicola River . Spain regained the Pensacola Bay area from the French in 1722 and established the Presidio Isla Santa Rosa Punta de Siguenza on Santa Rosa Island , abandoning the Bahía San José site. After Isla Santa Rosa Punta de Siguenza was destroyed by

13529-414: The Spanish established the colony of Santa Elena on what is now Parris Island, South Carolina . Juan Pardo led two expeditions (1566–1567 and 1567–1568) from Santa Elena as far as eastern Tennessee, establishing six temporary forts in interior. The Spanish abandoned Santa Elena and the surrounding area in 1587. In 1586, English privateer Francis Drake plundered and burned St. Augustine, including

13692-548: The United States in 1803. The U.S. claimed that the transaction included West Florida , while Spain insisted that the area was not part of Louisiana and was still Spanish territory. In 1810, the United States intervened in a local uprising in West Florida , and by 1812, the Mobile District was absorbed into the U.S. territory of Mississippi , reducing the borders of Spanish Florida to that of modern Florida. In

13855-589: The Wacissa River joins the Aucilla. The final few miles of the Aucilla below the mouth of the Wacissa flows over a broad floodplain . Although the Wacissa River is the largest tributary of the Aucilla River, it breaks into a number of braided channels before reaching the Aucilla. In the first half of the 19th century, cotton growers of Jefferson and Madison Counties wanted to carry their cotton to seaports on

14018-592: The Western Ocean's regional integration and increase in international circulation of people, ideas, and goods. It provided a platform for cosmopolitan discourses, which took place in locations such as the ships of the Ming treasure fleet, the Ming capitals of Nanjing as well as Beijing, and the banquet receptions organized by the Ming court for foreign representatives. Diverse groups of people from maritime countries congregated, interacted, and traveled together as

14181-651: The age of discovery and colonialism, using the alternative names of Age of Contact or Contact Period , discussing it as an "unfinished, diverse project". The Portuguese began systematically exploring the Atlantic coast of Africa in 1418, under the sponsorship of Prince Henry the Navigator . In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias reached the Indian Ocean by this route. In 1492, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain funded Genoese mariner Christopher Columbus 's ( Italian : Cristoforo Colombo ) plan to sail west to reach

14344-475: The agreements ending the Seven Years' War in 1763, and the Spanish population largely emigrated to Cuba. The new colonial ruler divided the territory into East and West Florida, but despite offers of free land to new settlers, Britain was unable to increase the population or economic output, and traded Florida back to Spain in 1783 after the American War of Independence . Spain's ability to govern or control

14507-609: The area known as the Aucilla River Sinks on the lower part of the river. Between the Florida-Georgia State line and U.S. Highway 90 the river flows through an area of springs, sinkholes and marshes without a main channel. From U.S. 90 to a few miles south of Lamont the river flows in a steep-sided valley with whitewater rapids. The Aucilla River Sinks, where many segments of the river are underground, starts north of Goose Pasture Road and runs to where

14670-409: The boundaries of Florida over Spanish objections. The War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–1748) included a British attack on St. Augustine and a Spanish invasion of Georgia , both of which were repulsed. At the conclusion of the war, the northern boundary of Spanish Florida was set near the current northern border of modern-day Florida. Great Britain temporarily gained control of Florida beginning in 1763 as

14833-657: The boundaries. Spain gained possession of West Florida and regained East Florida from Britain in the Peace of Paris of 1783, and continued the British practice of governing the Floridas as separate territories: West Florida and East Florida. When Spain acquired West Florida in 1783, the eastern British boundary was the Apalachicola River, but Spain moved it eastward to the Suwannee River in 1785. The purpose

14996-423: The boundary between West Florida and the newly independent U.S. at 31° . However, in the companion Peace of Paris between Britain and Spain, West Florida was ceded to Spain without its boundaries being specified. The Spanish government insisted that its claim extended fully to the 1767 boundary at 32° 28′. The British line at 32° 28′ was close to Spain's old claim of 32° 30′, which can be justified by referring to

15159-400: The canal did not start until 1851. Slaves from local plantations were hired from their owners to dig the canal, which was cut through limestone. Work on the canal was halted in 1856, while parts of the canal were still too shallow for loaded barges. By that time, railroads had reached the plantation country, removing the urgency of the need for the canal. In the 21st century, a proposal to rename

15322-486: The central and western Gulf coast to the Yucatán Peninsula in 1519. In 1521, Ponce de León sailed from Cuba with 200 men in two ships to establish a colony on the southwest coast of the Florida peninsula, probably near Charlotte Harbor . However, attacks by the native Calusa drove the colonists away in July 1521. During the skirmish, Ponce de León was wounded in his thigh and later died of his injuries upon

15485-430: The coast, but the intermittent underground segments of the Aucilla River and the narrow and shallow braided channels of the lower Wacissa did not permit the passage of barges. The Wacissa and Aucilla Navigation Company was chartered in 1831 to dig a canal from the navigable portion of the Wacissa to below Nuttall Rise, where the Aucilla returns above ground for the last time before reaching the Gulf of Mexico. Construction of

15648-497: The colonists from Ochuse and occupy Santa Elena. Villafañe led 75 men to Santa Elena, but a tropical storm damaged his ships before they could land, forcing the expedition to return to Mexico. The establishment of permanent settlements and fortifications in Florida by Spain was in response to the challenge posed by French Florida : French captain Jean Ribault led an expedition to Florida, and established Charlesfort on what

15811-454: The colony continued to erode, and, after repeated incursions by American forces against the Seminole people who had settled in Florida, Spain finally decided to sell the territory to the United States. The parties signed the Adams–Onís Treaty in 1819, and the transfer officially took place on July 17, 1821, over 300 years after Spain had first claimed the Florida peninsula. Spanish Florida

15974-411: The colony moved inland to Nanicapana, renamed Santa Cruz, where some food had been found, but it could not support the colony and the Spanish returned to Pensacola Bay. In response to a royal order to immediately occupy Santa Elena, Luna sent three small ships, but they were damaged in a storm and returned to Mexico. Angel de Villafañe replaced the discredited Luna in 1561, with orders to withdraw most of

16137-458: The earlier disruptions caused by the Spanish and were wary when not outright hostile. De Soto seized Indians to serve as guides and porters. The expedition reached Apalachee in October and settled into the chief Apalachee town of Anhaica for the winter, where they found large quantities of stored food, but little gold or other riches. In the spring de Soto set out to the northeast, crossing what

16300-408: The early 15th century. The tributary relations promoted during the voyages manifested a trend toward cross-regional interconnections and early globalization in Asia and Africa. Diplomatic relations were built on mutually beneficial maritime trade and China's strong naval presence in foreign waters, with Chinese naval superiority being a key factor in these interactions. The voyages brought about

16463-518: The early 1800s, tensions rose along the unguarded border between Spanish Florida and the state of Georgia as settlers skirmished with Seminoles over land and American slave-hunters raided Black Seminole villages in Florida. These tensions were exacerbated when the Seminoles aided Great Britain against the United States during the War of 1812 and led to American military incursions into northern Florida beginning in late 1814 during what became known as

16626-486: The effort to study the Pleistocene conditions of the Aucilla River. [REDACTED] Media related to Aucilla River at Wikimedia Commons 30°5′9″N 83°59′25″W  /  30.08583°N 83.99028°W  / 30.08583; -83.99028 Spanish Florida Spanish Florida ( Spanish : La Florida ) was the first major European land-claim and attempted settlement-area in northern America during

16789-523: The emperor's death, as the Chinese lost interest in what they termed barbarian lands, turning inward, and successor emperors felt the expeditions were harmful to the Chinese state; Hongxi Emperor ended further expeditions and Xuande Emperor suppressed much of the information about Zheng He's voyages. From the 8th until the 15th century, the Republic of Venice and neighboring maritime republics held

16952-471: The existing Spanish settlements in Mexico and Florida. After storms and delays, the expedition landed near Tampa Bay on April 12, 1528, already short on supplies, with about 400 people. Confused as to the location of Tampa Bay (Milanich notes that a navigation guide used by Spanish pilots at the time placed Tampa Bay some 90 miles (140 km) too far north), Narváez sent his ships in search of it while most of

17115-480: The expedition marched northward, supposedly to meet the ships at the bay. Intending to find Tampa Bay, Narváez marched close to the coast, through what turned out to be a largely uninhabited territory. The expedition was forced to subsist on the rations they had brought with them until they reached the Withlacoochee River , where they finally encountered Indians. Seizing hostages, the expedition reached

17278-603: The expedition's return to Havana . In 1521, Pedro de Quejo and Francisco Gordillo enslaved 60 Indians at Winyah Bay , South Carolina . Quejo, with the backing of Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón , returned to the region in 1525, stopping at several locations between Amelia Island and the Chesapeake Bay . In 1526, de Ayllón led an expedition of some 600 people to the South Carolina coast. After scouting possible locations as far south as Ponce de Leon Inlet in Florida,

17441-405: The exploration of the coast of Africa. This was an existing Iberian ship type, used for fishing, commerce and military purposes. Unlike other vessels of the time, the caravel had a sternpost-mounted rudder (as opposed to a side-mounted steering oar). It had a shallow draft, which was helpful in exploring unknown coastlines. It had good sailing performance, with a windward ability that was notable by

17604-552: The first explorations. The Canary Islands , already known to the Genoese, were claimed as officially discovered under the patronage of the Portuguese, but in 1344 Castile disputed them, expanding their rivalry into the sea. To ensure their monopoly on trade, Europeans (beginning with the Portuguese) attempted to install a Mediterranean system of trade which used military might and intimidation, to divert trade through ports they controlled; there it could be taxed. In 1415, Ceuta

17767-538: The first solely missionary expedition in la Florida. Following decades of native contact with Spanish laymen who had ignored a 1537 Papal Bull which condemned slavery in no uncertain terms, the religious order's effort was abandoned after only six weeks with de Cancer's brutal martyrdom by Tocobaga natives. His death sent shock waves through the Dominican missionary community in New Spain for many years. In 1566,

17930-538: The fort from the Spanish and slaughtered all of the Spanish defenders. However, he did not leave a garrison, and France would not attempt to settle in Florida again. To fortify St. Augustine, Spaniards (along with forced labor from the Timucuan, Guale, and Apalache peoples) built the Castillo de San Marcos beginning in 1672. The first stage of construction was completed in 1695. They also built Fort Matanzas just to

18093-403: The general difficulty in becoming agriculturally or economically self-sufficient. By the 18th century, Spain's control over La Florida did not extend much beyond a handful of forts near St. Augustine , St. Marks , and Pensacola , all within the boundaries of present-day Florida. Florida was never more than a backwater region for Spain that came to serve primarily as a strategic buffer between

18256-544: The global common course, the legacy of the Age still shapes the world today. European oceanic exploration started with the maritime expeditions of Portugal to the Canary Islands in 1336, and later with the Portuguese discoveries of the Atlantic archipelagos of Madeira and Azores , the coast of West Africa in 1434, and the establishment of the sea route to India in 1498 by Vasco da Gama , which initiated

18419-405: The growing economic influence and spread of western and European culture , science and technology leading to a faster-than-exponential population growth world-wide. The concept of discovery has been scrutinized, critically highlighting the history of the core term of this periodization . The term "age of discovery" is in historical literature and still commonly used. J. H. Parry , calling

18582-470: The idea that the Indian Ocean was landlocked. A prelude to the Age of Discovery was a series of European expeditions crossing Eurasia by land in the late Middle Ages. The Mongols had threatened Europe, but Mongol states also unified much of Eurasia and, from 1206 on, the Pax Mongolica allowed safe trade routes and communication lines from the Middle East to China. The close Italian links to

18745-589: The interconnecting of river and sea trade routes. Before the 12th century, an obstacle to trade east of the Strait of Gibraltar , which divided the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean, was Muslim control of territory, including the Iberian Peninsula and the trade monopolies of Christian city-states on the Italian Peninsula, especially Venice and Genoa . Economic growth of Iberia followed

18908-635: The interior of the Americas, and some of the South Pacific islands. Their main objective was to disrupt Portuguese trade in the East. From 1495, the French, English, and Dutch entered the race of exploration, after learning of Columbus' exploits, defying the Iberian monopoly on maritime trade by searching for new routes. The first expedition was John Cabot in 1497 to the north, in the service of England, followed by French expeditions to South America and later to North America. Later expeditions went to

19071-438: The last. The fleets visited Arabia , East Africa , India , Malay Archipelago and Thailand (then called Siam ), exchanging goods along the way. They presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain and silk ; in return, received such novelties as ostriches , zebras , camels , ivory and giraffes . After the emperor's death, Zheng He led a final expedition departing from Nanking in 1431 and returning to Beijing in 1433. It

19234-527: The local Indians a decade earlier when he was sent ashore from a ship searching for Narváez. Ortiz passed on the Indian reports of riches, including gold, to be found in Apalachee, and de Soto set off with 550 soldiers, 200 horses, and a few priests and friars. De Soto's expedition lived off the land as it marched. De Soto followed a route further inland than that of Narváez's expedition, but the Indians remembered

19397-477: The lower third of the present states of Mississippi and Alabama, including the valuable Natchez District . During this time, Creek Indians began to migrate into Florida, leading to the formation of the Seminole tribe. The aboriginal peoples of Florida had been devastated by war and disease, and it is thought most of the survivors accompanied the Spanish settlers when they left for other colonies (mostly French) in 1763. This left wide expanses of territory open to

19560-477: The mercantile situation in the east Mediterranean, was the waning of Christian Byzantine naval power following the death of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos in 1180, whose dynasty had made notable treaties and concessions with Italian traders, permitting the use of Byzantine Christian ports. The Norman Conquest of England, in the late 11th century, allowed for peaceful trade on the North Sea . The Hanseatic League ,

19723-561: The monopoly of European trade with the Middle East. The silk and spice trade , involving spices, incense , herbs, drugs and opium , made these Mediterranean city-states phenomenally rich. Spices were among the most expensive and demanded products of the Middle Ages, as they were used in medieval medicine , religious rituals, cosmetics, perfumery, as well as food additives and preservatives. They were all imported from Asia and Africa. Muslim traders dominated maritime routes throughout

19886-403: The most successful agricultural enterprise and were able to supply both local and Cuban markets. The coastal towns of Pensacola and St. Augustine also provided ports where Spanish ships needing water or supplies could stop and resupply. Beginning in the 1630s, a series of missions stretching from St. Augustine to the Florida panhandle supplied St. Augustine with maize and other food crops, and

20049-507: The origins of the terms "discovery" and "invention". In English, "discovery" and its forms in romance languages derive from " disco-operio , meaning to uncover, to reveal, to expose to the gaze", what was revealed existed previously. Few Europeans during the period used the term "invention" for the European encounters, with the exception of Martin Waldseemüller , whose map first used the term " America ". A central legal concept of

20212-540: The peoples he met (likely the Timucua , Tequesta , and Calusa ) were mostly hostile at first contact and knew a few Castilian words, lending credence to the idea that they had already been visited by Spanish raiders. Popular legend has it that Ponce de León was searching for the Fountain of Youth when he discovered Florida. However, the first mention of Ponce de León allegedly searching for water to cure his aging (he

20375-405: The period from 1514 to 1516, Pedro de Salazar led an officially sanctioned raid which enslaved as many as 500 Indians along the Atlantic coast of the present-day southeastern United States. Diego Miruelo mapped what was probably Tampa Bay in 1516, Francisco Hernández de Cordova mapped most of Florida's Gulf coast to the Mississippi River in 1517, and Alonso Álvarez de Pineda sailed and mapped

20538-441: The period the Age of Reconnaissance , argues that not only was the era one of European explorations, but it also produced the expansion of geographical knowledge and empirical science . "It saw also the first major victories of empirical inquiry over authority, the beginnings of that close association of science, technology, and everyday work which is an essential characteristic of the modern western world." Anthony Pagden draws on

20701-474: The principle of actual possession adopted by Spain and England in the 1670 Treaty of Madrid . The now independent United States insisted that the boundary was at 31°, as specified in its Treaty of Paris with Britain. After American independence, Spain claimed far more land than the old British West Florida, including the east side of the Mississippi River north to the Ohio and Tennessee rivers. This expanded claim

20864-775: The rafts were wrecked on the Texas coast. After eight years, four survivors, including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca , reached New Spain (Mexico). Hernando de Soto had been one of Francisco Pizarro 's chief lieutenants in the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire , and had returned to Spain a very wealthy man. He was appointed Adelantado of Florida and governor of Cuba and assembled a large expedition to 'conquer' Florida. On May 30, 1539, de Soto and his companions landed in Tampa Bay, where they found Juan Ortiz , who had been captured by

21027-586: The region, Spain regarded Florida (and particularly the heavily fortified town of St. Augustine) primarily as a buffer between its more prosperous colonies to the south and west and several newly established rival European colonies to the north. The establishment of the Province of Carolina by the English in 1639, New Orleans by the French in 1718, and of the Province of Georgia by Great Britain in 1732 limited

21190-618: The remaining Spanish missions and killing or enslaving most of the Indian population. By 1707, the few surviving Indians had fled to Spanish St. Augustine and Pensacola, or French Mobile . Some of the Native Americans captured by Moore's army were resettled along the Savannah and the Ocmulgee rivers in Georgia. At the end of the 17th century and early in the 18th century, the Spanish attempted to block French expansion from Louisiana along

21353-594: The rest of New Spain and the expanding English colonies to the north. In contrast with the conquistadors of Mexico or of Peru, the Spaniards in La Florida found no gold or silver. Due to disease and, later, raids by colonists of the Province of Carolina (chartered in 1663) and their Native American allies, the native population was not large enough for an encomienda system of forced agricultural labor, so Spain did not establish large plantations in Florida. Large free-range cattle ranches in north-central Florida were

21516-418: The revolt, Apalachee men were forced to work on public projects in St. Augustine or on Spanish-owned ranches. In 1656, the Timucua rebelled, disrupting the Spanish missions in Florida . This also affected the ranches and food supplies for St. Augustine. The economy of Spanish Florida diversified during the 17th century, with cattle ranching playing a major role. Throughout the 17th century, colonists from

21679-425: The same time, Ribault sailed from Fort Caroline, intending to attack St. Augustine from the sea. The French fleet, however, was pushed out to sea and decimated by a squall. Meanwhile, the Spanish overwhelmed the lightly defended Fort Caroline, sparing only the women and children. Some 25 men were able to escape. When the Spanish returned south and found the French shipwreck survivors, Menéndez de Avilés ordered all of

21842-428: The settlement of San Miguel de Gualdape was established in the vicinity of Sapelo Sound , Georgia . Disease, hunger, cold and Indian attacks led to San Miguel being abandoned after only two months. About 150 survivors returned to Spanish settlements. Dominican friars Fr. Antonio de Montesinos and Fr. Anthony de Cervantes were among the colonists. Given that at the time priests were obliged to say mass each day, it

22005-575: The signing of the treaty, with the entirety of St Augustine emigrating to Cuba. The British soon began an aggressive recruiting policy to attract colonists to the area, offering free land and backing for export-oriented businesses. In 1767, the British moved the northern boundary of West Florida to a line extending from the mouth of the Yazoo River east to the Chattahoochee River (32° 28′ north latitude), consisting of approximately

22168-654: The sites for 15 years, ending in 1998. The Page/Ladson site , which was examined again in 2012-2014 by a group sponsored by the Center for the Study of First Americans, is one of the best documented and earliest of pre- Clovis culture sites in North America. As of 2006, the Sloth Hole site was "believed to be one of the three oldest Clovis sites in the Americas." More than half of the "academically known worked ivory in

22331-483: The south like the supposed long-lost Christian kingdom of Prester John and probe whether it was possible to reach the Indies by sea, the source of the lucrative spice trade . He invested in sponsoring voyages down the coast of Mauritania , gathering a group of merchants, shipowners and stakeholders interested in new sea lanes. Soon the Atlantic islands of Madeira (1419) and the Azores (1427) were reached. The expedition leader who established settlements on Madeira,

22494-433: The south to look for enemies arriving by sea. In the eighteenth century, a free black population began to grow in St. Augustine, as Spanish Florida granted freedom to enslaved people fleeing the Thirteen Colonies . Fort Mose became another fort, populated by free black militiamen and their families, serving as a buffer between the Spanish and British. In 1549, Father Luis de Cáncer and three other Dominicans attempted

22657-401: The standards of the time. The lateen rig was less useful when sailing downwind – which explains Christopher Columbus ( Italian : Cristoforo Colombo ) re-rigging the Niña with square rig . For celestial navigation the Portuguese used the ephemerides , which experienced a remarkable diffusion in the 15th century. These were astronomical charts plotting the location of the stars over

22820-402: The state. Britain retained control over East Florida during the American Revolutionary War , but the Spanish, by that time allied with the French who were at war with Britain, recaptured most of West Florida. At the end of the war the Peace of Paris (1783) treaties (between the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Spain) ceded all of East and West Florida to Spanish control, though without specifying

22983-408: The treasure fleet sailed from and to China. For the first time, the maritime region from China to Africa was under the dominance of a single imperial power and allowed for the creation of a cosmopolitan space. These long-distance journeys were not followed up, as the Ming dynasty retreated in the haijin , a policy of isolationism , having limited maritime trade. Travels were halted abruptly after

23146-440: The turn of the 19th century, with real control limited to the immediate vicinity of St. Augustine, Pensacola, and a few small towns and forts scattered across the north of the territory. Tension and hostility between Seminoles and American settlers living in neighboring Georgia and over the Florida border grew steadily. Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery ( c.  1418  – c.  1620 ), also known as

23309-438: The unexplored ocean curves around toward the west, and running along by the regions to the south of Aethiopia and Libya and Africa, it mingles with the western sea (possible reference to the Atlantic Ocean)". European medieval knowledge about Asia beyond the reach of the Byzantine Empire was sourced in partial reports, often obscured by legends, dating back from the conquests of Alexander the Great and successors. Another source

23472-499: The vegetation was in bloom. After briefly exploring the area around their landing site, the expedition returned to their ships and sailed south to map the coast, encountering the Gulf Stream along the way. The expedition followed Florida's coastline all the way around the Florida Keys and north to map a portion of the Southwest Florida coast before returning to Puerto Rico. Ponce de León did not have substantial documented interactions with Native Americans during his voyage. However,

23635-413: The view that had existed since Ptolemy that the Indian Ocean was land-locked . Based on many later stories of the phantom island known as Bacalao and the carvings on Dighton Rock some have speculated that Portuguese explorer João Vaz Corte-Real discovered Newfoundland in 1473, but the sources are considered unreliable. Portugal's Iberian rival, Castile , had begun to establish its rule over

23798-449: The winter in Oklahoma . In 1542, the expedition headed back to the Mississippi River, where de Soto died. Three hundred and ten survivors returned from the expedition in 1543. Although the Spanish had lost hope of finding gold and other riches in Florida, it was seen as vital to the defense of their colonies and territories in Mexico and the Caribbean. In 1559, Tristán de Luna y Arellano left Mexico with 500 soldiers and 1,000 civilians on

23961-445: The work of Edmundo O'Gorman for the statement that "For all Europeans, the events of October 1492 constituted a 'discovery'. Something of which they had no prior knowledge had suddenly presented itself to their gaze." O'Gorman argues that the physical encounter with new territories was less important than the Europeans' effort to integrate this new knowledge into their worldview, what he calls "the invention of America". Pagden examines

24124-459: The world , shaping a new worldview and facilitating contact with distant civilizations. The continents drawn by European mapmakers of the Age developed from abstract "blobs" into the outlines more recognizable to us today. Simultaneously, the spread of new diseases, especially affecting American Indians , led to rapid population declines . The era saw widespread enslavement , exploitation and military conquest of native populations , concurrent with

24287-412: The world became connected to form the world-system and laid the groundwork for globalization . The extensive overseas exploration, particularly the opening of maritime routes to the Indies and the European colonization of the Americas by the Spanish and Portuguese , later joined by the English , French and Dutch , spurred in the International global trade . The interconnected global economy of

24450-519: Was Giovanni da Pian del Carpine , dispatched by Pope Innocent IV to the Great Khan , who journeyed to Mongolia and back from 1241 to 1247. Russian prince Yaroslav of Vladimir , and his sons Alexander Nevsky and Andrey II of Vladimir , travelled to the Mongolian capital. Though having strong political implications, their journeys left no detailed accounts. Other travellers followed, like French André de Longjumeau and Flemish William of Rubruck , who reached China through Central Asia. Marco Polo ,

24613-558: Was conquered by the Portuguese aiming to control navigation of the African coast. The young prince Henry the Navigator was there and became aware of profit possibilities in the trans-Saharan trade routes. For centuries slave and gold trade routes linking West Africa with the Mediterranean passed over the Western Sahara Desert, controlled by the Moors of North Africa. Henry wished to know how far Muslim territories in Africa extended, hoping to bypass them and trade directly with West Africa by sea, find allies in legendary Christian lands to

24776-578: Was Castilian, to issue four papal bulls to divide the world into two regions of exploration, where each kingdom had exclusive rights to claim newly discovered lands. These were modified by the Treaty of Tordesillas , ratified by Pope Julius II . In 1498, a Portuguese expedition commanded by Vasco da Gama reached India by sailing around Africa, opening up direct trade with Asia. While other exploratory fleets were sent from Portugal to northern North America, Portuguese India Armadas also extended this Eastern oceanic route, touching South America and opening

24939-525: Was Portuguese explorer João Gonçalves Zarco . Europeans did not know what lay beyond Cape Non ( Cape Chaunar ) on the African coast, and whether it was possible to return once it was crossed. Nautical myths warned of oceanic monsters or an edge of the world, but Henry's navigation challenged such beliefs: starting in 1421, systematic sailing overcame it, reaching the difficult Cape Bojador that in 1434 one of Henry's captains, Gil Eanes , finally passed. From 1440 onwards, caravels were extensively used for

25102-420: Was barely known and only trade links with the Maritime republics , Venice especially, fostered the collection of accurate maritime knowledge. Indian Ocean trade routes were sailed by Arab traders. By 1400, a Latin translation of Ptolemy 's Geographia reached Italy from Constantinople. The rediscovery of Roman geographical knowledge was a revelation, both for map-making and worldview, although reinforcing

25265-399: Was based on Spain's successful military operations against the British in the region during the war. Spain occupied or built several forts north of the old British West Florida border, including Fort Confederación , Fort Nogales (at present-day Vicksburg ), and Fort San Fernando (at present-day Memphis ). Spain tried to settle the dispute quickly, but the U.S. delayed, knowing that time

25428-445: Was especially impactful as no other polity had exerted naval dominance over all sectors of the Indian Ocean, prior to these voyages. The Ming promoted alternative nodes as a strategy to establish control over the network. For instance, due to Chinese involvement, ports such as Malacca (in Southeast Asia), Cochin (Malabar Coast), and Malindi (Swahili Coast) had grown as key alternatives to other established ports. The appearance of

25591-493: Was established in 1513, when Juan Ponce de León claimed peninsular Florida for Spain during the first official European expedition to North America. This claim was enlarged as several explorers (most notably Pánfilo Narváez and Hernando de Soto ) landed near Tampa Bay in the mid-1500s and wandered as far north as the Appalachian Mountains and as far west as Texas in largely unsuccessful searches for gold. On September 8, 1565, Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés landed with

25754-409: Was largely a backwater compared to the Arab world, which conquered and incorporated large territories in the Middle East and North Africa. The Christian Crusades to retake the Holy Land , from the Muslims, were not a military success, but did bring Europe into contact with the Middle East and the valuable goods manufactured or traded there. From the 12th century, the European economy was transformed by

25917-469: Was much facilitated by the collapse of native cultures during the 17th century. Several Native American groups (including the Timucua , Calusa , Tequesta , Apalachee , Tocobaga , and the Ais people ) had been long-established residents of Florida, and most resisted Spanish incursions onto their land. However, conflict with Spanish expeditions, raids by the Carolina colonists and their native allies, and (especially) diseases brought from Europe resulted in

26080-541: Was on its side. By Pinckney's Treaty of 1795 with the United States, Spain recognized the 31st parallel as the border, ending the first West Florida Controversy. Andrew Ellicott surveyed this parallel in 1797, as the border between the United States and Spanish territories. In 1798, Ellicott reported to the government that four American generals were receiving pensions from Spain, including General James Wilkinson . Spain, beset with independence movements in its other colonies, could not settle or adequately govern Florida by

26243-473: Was only 40) came after his death, more than twenty years after his voyage of discovery, and the first that placed the Fountain of Youth in Florida was thirty years after that. It is much more likely that Ponce de León, like other Spanish conquistadors in the Americas , was looking for gold, land to colonize and rule for Spain, and Indians to convert to Christianity or enslave. Other Spanish voyages to Florida quickly followed Ponce de León's return. Sometime in

26406-426: Was the Radhanite Jewish trade networks of merchants established as go-betweens between Europe and the Muslim world during the time of the Crusader states . In 1154, the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi created a description of the world and a world map , the Tabula Rogeriana , at the court of King Roger II of Sicily , but still Africa was only partially known to either Christians, Genoese and Venetians, or

26569-422: Was to transfer San Marcos and the district of Apalachee from East Florida to West Florida. After American independence, the lack of specified boundaries led to a border dispute with the newly formed United States, known as the West Florida Controversy . The two 1783 treaties that ended the American Revolutionary War had differences in boundaries. The Treaty of Paris between Britain and the United States specified

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