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176-587: Florida was never more than a backwater region for Spain that came to serve primarily as a strategic buffer between 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,

352-452: A corregidor (also known as an alcalde mayor ) or a cabildo (town council), both of which had judicial and administrative powers. In the late 18th century the Bourbon dynasty began phasing out the corregidores and introduced intendants , whose broad fiscal powers cut into the authority of the viceroys, governors and cabildos . Despite their late creation, these intendancies so affected

528-504: 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

704-612: A map the Dutch cartographer Hessel Gerritsz published in 1630 in Joannes de Laet 's History of the New World , the Florida peninsula is labeled "Tegesta" after the tribe. A map from the 18th century labeled the area around Biscayne Bay "Tekesta". A 1794 map by cartographer Bernard Romans labeled this area "Tegesta". The archaeological record of the Glades culture, which included the area occupied by

880-506: A Spanish city, sixteenth-century Puebla had Indians resident in the central core. Tequesta The Tequesta , also Tekesta , Tegesta , Chequesta , Vizcaynos , were a Native American tribe on the Southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida . They had infrequent contact with Europeans and had largely migrated by the middle of the 18th century. The Tequesta lived in the southeastern parts of present-day Florida . They lived in

1056-452: 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 ,

1232-419: A circle approximately 38 feet in diameter. Other arrangements of holes are apparent as well. The Circle was discovered during an archeological survey of a site being cleared for construction of a high-rise building. Charcoal samples collected in the circle have been radiocarbon-dated to approximately 100 CE, 1,900 years ago. Radiocarbon-dating of sea shells eaten at the site date back as far as 730 BCE, and suggest

1408-506: 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

1584-602: 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

1760-475: 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

1936-474: 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

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2112-523: 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

2288-403: A harpoon, and surrounded by small tongue-like figures painted on a small board. There was also a god of the graveyard , a bird's head carved in pine. The painted board and bird's head were stored in a temple in the cemetery, along with carved masks used in festivals. By this time the tribe's shaman was calling himself a bishop . The Tequesta also believed that humans have three souls. One in

2464-693: 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

2640-572: 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

2816-500: A localized network. Even where infrastructure was improved, transit on the Veracruz-Puebla main road had other obstacles, with wolves attacking mule trains, killing animals, and rendering some sacks of foodstuffs unsellable because they were smeared with blood. The north-south Acapulco route remained a mule track through mountainous terrain. Veracruz was the first Spanish settlement founded in what became New Spain, and it endured as

2992-961: A minor part of the Tequesta diet (their shells are much less common at Tequesta archeological sites than they are at Calusa or Jaega sites). Venison was also popular; deer bones are frequently found in archeological sites, as are terrapin shells and bones. Sea turtles and their eggs were consumed during the turtles' nesting season. The Tequesta gathered many plant foods, including saw palmetto ( Serenoa repens ) berries, cocoplums ( Chrysobalanus icaco ), sea grapes ( Coccoloba uvifera ), prickly pear ( nopal ) fruits ( Opuntia spp.), gopher apples ( Licania michauxii ), pigeon plums ( Cocoloba diversifolia ), palm nuts, false mastic seeds, cabbage palm ( Sabal palmetto ), and hog plum ( Ximenia americana ). The roots of certain plants, such as Smilax spp. and coontie ( Zamia integrifolia ), were edible when ground into flour, processed to remove toxins (in

3168-500: 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

3344-538: 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

3520-543: A permanent settlement was established here more than 2,700 years ago. The circle is on the south side of the Miami River. Recent archaeological work has found a larger Tequesta site on the north side of the river that likely existed concurrently with the Miami Circle. In Juan Ponce de León stopped at a bay on the Florida coast that he called Chequesta , which apparently was what is now called Biscayne Bay . In 1565 one of

3696-451: A plan to have a stockade manned by twenty-five soldiers, and to bring in Spanish settlers to grow food for the soldiers and the Native Americans. They felt that the new settlement would soon supplant the need for St. Augustine. Father Alaña returned to Havana, leaving twelve soldiers and a corporal to protect Father Mónaco. The governor in Havana was not pleased. He ordered that Father Mónaco and

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3872-466: A region of nomadic and semi-nomadic indigenous populations, which do not easily support human settlement. In the 1540s, the discovery of silver in Zacatecas attracted Spanish mining entrepreneurs and workers, to exploit the mines, as well as crown officials to ensure the crown received its share of revenue. Silver mining became integral not only to the development of New Spain, but also to the enrichment of

4048-667: 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

4224-522: 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

4400-512: A river feeding into Biscayne Bay that they called the Rio Ratones. This may have been the Little River , in the northern part of Biscayne Bay , or the Miami River. The Spanish missionaries were not well received. The Keys Indians, as the Spanish called them, denied that they had requested missionaries. They did permit a mission to be established because the Spanish had brought gifts for them, but

4576-450: 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

4752-446: A steady stream of tax revenues by supplying the huge Mexican demand, so the crown limited zones of tobacco cultivation. It also established a small number of factories of finished products, and licensed distribution outlets ( estanquillos ). The crown also set up warehouses to store up to a year's worth of supplies, including paper for cigarettes, for the factories. With the establishment of the monopoly, crown revenues increased and there

4928-482: Is evidence that despite high prices and expanding rates of poverty, tobacco consumption rose while at the same time, general consumption fell. In 1787 during the Bourbon Reforms Veracruz became an intendancy , a new administrative unit. Founded in 1531 as a Spanish settlement, Puebla de los Angeles quickly rose to the status of Mexico's second-most important city. Its location on the main route between

5104-480: 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 the 16th century show

5280-562: 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

5456-528: Is now Miami-Dade County and further north in Broward County at least as far Pompano Beach . Their territory may have also included the northern half of Broward County and the southern half of Palm Beach County . They also occupied the Florida Keys at times, and may have had a village on Cape Sable , at the southern end of the Florida peninsula, in the 16th century. Their central town (called "Tequesta" by

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5632-482: 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,

5808-746: 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

5984-519: 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

6160-594: The American War of Independence . Spain's ability to govern or control 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

6336-522: The Amsterdam stock market , the first in history and whose origin is owed precisely to the need for funds to finance pirate expeditions, as later by the London market. The above is what some authors call the "historical process of the transfer of wealth from the south to the north." In the colonial period, basic patterns of regional development emerged and strengthened. European settlement and institutional life

6512-472: 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

6688-889: The Cayman Islands , Trinidad , and the Bay Islands . New Spain also claimed jurisdiction over the overseas territories of the Spanish East Indies in Asia and Oceania: the Philippine Islands, the Mariana Islands , the Caroline Islands , parts of Taiwan , and parts of the Moluccas . Although asserting sovereignty over this vast realm, it did not effectively control large swaths. Other European powers, including England, France, and

6864-472: 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

7040-797: The Kingdom of New Spain , was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire , established by Habsburg Spain . It was one of several domains established during the Spanish conquest of the Americas , and had its capital in Mexico City. Its jurisdiction comprised a large area of the southern and western portions of North America, mainly what became Mexico and the Southwestern United States, but also California , Florida and Louisiana ; Central America,

7216-749: The Manila galleon . In the Philippines Manila near the South China Sea was the main port. The ports were fundamental for overseas trade, stretching a trade route from Asia, through the Manila galleon to the Spanish mainland. These were ships that made voyages from the Philippines to Mexico, whose goods were then transported overland from Acapulco to Veracruz and later reshipped from Veracruz to Cádiz in Spain. So then,

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7392-570: The Mayaimis who lived around Lake Okeechobee in the middle of the lower Florida peninsula. Only ten words from the languages of those tribes have recorded meanings. The linguist Julian Granberry states that the Tequesta probably spoke the same language as the Calusa , which in his analysis relates to the Tunica language . The Tequestas did not practice any form of agriculture. They fished, hunted, and gathered

7568-562: The Metropolis (mother country) due to Spanish Roman Catholic Monarchy's frequent preoccupation with European wars (enormous amounts of this wealth were spent hiring mercenaries to fight the Protestant Reformation ), as well as the incessant decrease in overseas transportation caused by assaults from companies of British buccaneers , Dutch corsairs and pirates of various origin. These companies were initially financed by, at first, by

7744-520: The Mexica (Aztec) Empire . Central Mexico became the base of expeditions of exploration and conquest, expanding the territory claimed by the Spanish Empire. With the political and economic importance of the conquest, the crown asserted direct control over the densely populated realm. The crown established New Spain as a viceroyalty in 1535, appointing as viceroy Antonio de Mendoza , an aristocrat loyal to

7920-706: The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–1521) to the collapse of Spanish rule in the Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821). Beginning with the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521 by Hernán Cortés , Spanish rule was established, leading to the creation of governing bodies like the Council of the Indies and the Audiencia to maintain control. It involved the forced conversion of indigenous populations to Catholicism and

8096-459: The port of Veracruz . Alexander von Humboldt called this area, Mesa de Anahuac , which can be defined as the adjacent valleys of Puebla, Mexico, and Toluca, enclosed by high mountains, along with their connections to the Gulf Coast port of Veracruz and the Pacific port of Acapulco , where over half the population of New Spain lived. These valleys were linked trunk lines, or main routes, facilitating

8272-400: The 1530s sugar production was underway. New Spain's first viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza established an hacienda on lands taken from Orizaba. Indians resisted cultivating sugarcane themselves, preferring to tend their subsistence crops. As in the Caribbean, black slave labor became crucial to the development of sugar estates. During the period 1580–1640 when Spain and Portugal were ruled by

8448-419: The 1630s, a series of missions stretching from St. Augustine to the Florida panhandle supplied St. Augustine with maize and other food crops, and 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

8624-683: 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

8800-462: The Captaincies General of the Philippines (established 1574) and Guatemala (established in 1609), which were joint military and political commands with a certain level of autonomy. The viceroy was captain-general of those provinces that remained directly under his command. At the local level there were over two hundred districts, in both indigenous and Spanish areas, which were headed by either

8976-463: The Caribbean, and northern parts of South America; several Pacific archipelagos, including the Philippines and Guam . Additional Asian colonies included " Spanish Formosa ," on the island of Taiwan . After the 1521 Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire , conqueror Hernán Cortés named the territory New Spain, and established the new capital, Mexico City, on the site of Tenochtitlan , the capital of

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9152-545: The Catholic faith. The first group of these Native Americans, including the cacique of Cayo de Guesos (Key West), arrived in Cuba in 1704, and most, if not all of them, soon died. In 1710, 280 Florida Native Americans were taken to Cuba where almost 200 soon died. The survivors were returned to the Keys in 1716 or 1718. In 1732 some Native Americans fled from the Keys to Cuba. In early 1743

9328-410: 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

9504-407: 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

9680-532: The Florida peninsula. Spanish Florida 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

9856-409: The Governor of Cuba received a petition from three Calusa chiefs who were visiting in Havana. The petition, which was written in Spanish and showed a understanding of how the government and church bureaucracies worked, asked that missionaries be sent to the Cayos (Florida Keys) to provide religious instruction. The Governor and his advisors finally decided it would be cheaper to send missionaries to

10032-556: 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,

10208-409: The Holy Office of the Inquisition , the merchants' guild ( consulado ), and home of the most elite families in the Kingdom of New Spain. Mexico City was the single most populous city, not just in New Spain, but for many years the entire Western Hemisphere, with a high concentration of mixed-race castas . Significant regional development grew along the main transportation route from the capital east to

10384-495: 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

10560-413: 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

10736-405: 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

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10912-408: The Keys rather than bringing the Native Americans to Cuba, and that keeping the Native Americans in the Keys would mean they would be available to help shipwrecked Spanish sailors and keep the British out of the area. The governor sent two Jesuit missionaries from Havana, Fathers Mónaco and Alaña, with an escort of soldiers. On reaching Biscayne Bay, they established a chapel and fort at the mouth of

11088-414: 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

11264-434: 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

11440-461: The Netherlands established colonies in territories Spain claimed. Much of what was called in the United States the "Spanish borderlands", is territory that attracted few Spanish settlers, with less dense indigenous populations and apparently lacking in mineral wealth. Huge deposits of gold in California were discovered immediately after it was incorporated into the U.S. following the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). The northern region of New Spain in

11616-521: 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

11792-399: The Provincias Internas (1776) (analogous to a dependent captaincy general). Two governorates , third-level administrative divisions, were established, the Governorate of Spanish Florida (Spanish: La Florida ) and the Governorate of Spanish Louisiana (Spanish: Luisiana ). The high courts, or audiencias , were established in major areas of Spanish settlement. In New Spain the high court

11968-479: The Spaniards in honor of the chief) was on the north bank of the Miami River . A village had been at that site for at least 2,000 years. The Tequesta situated their towns and camps at the mouths of rivers and streams, on inlets from the Atlantic Ocean to inland waters, and on barrier islands and keys. The Tequesta were more or less dominated by the more numerous Calusa of the southwest coast of Florida. The Tequesta were closely allied to their immediate neighbors to

12144-403: The Spanish crown claimed on the mainland of the Americas much of North America south of Canada, that is: all of modern Mexico and Central America except Panama ; most of the United States west of the Mississippi River, plus the Floridas . The Spanish West Indies , settled prior to the conquest of the Aztec Empire, also came under New Spain's jurisdiction: Cuba, Hispaniola , Puerto Rico, Jamaica,

12320-433: The Spanish crown, which marked a transformation in the global economy . New Spain's port of Acapulco became the New World terminus of the transpacific trade with the Philippines via the Manila galleon . New Spain became a vital link between Spain's New World empire and its East Indies empire . From the beginning of the 19th century, the kingdom fell into crisis, aggravated by the 1808 Napoleonic invasion of Iberia and

12496-402: 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

12672-411: 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

12848-558: The Tequesta and established a mission within a stockade, situated near the south bank of the Miami River below the native village. Menendez left a contingent of thirty soldiers and the Jesuit brother Francisco Villareal to convert the Tequestas to Christianity . Villareal had learned something of the Tequesta language from the chief's nephew in Havana. He felt he had been winning converts until

13024-399: The Tequesta lived in "hutts". Other tribes in southern Florida lived in houses with wooden posts, raised floors, and roofs thatched with palmetto leaves, something like the chickees of the Seminoles . These houses may have had temporary walls of plaited palmetto-leaf mats to break the wind or block the sun. Clothing was minimal. The men wore a sort of loincloth made from deer hide, while

13200-623: The Tequestas, indicates a continuous development of an indigenous ceramics tradition from about 700 BCE until after European contact. The Tequesta were once thought to be related to the Taino , the Arawakan people of the Antilles , but most anthropologists now doubt this, based on archaeological information and the length of their establishment in Florida. Carl O. Sauer called the Florida Straits "one of

13376-535: 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

13552-523: The United States in the nineteenth century. Regional characteristics of colonial Mexico have been the focus of considerable study. For those based in the vice-regal capital of Mexico City, everywhere else were the "provinces." Even in the modern era, "Mexico" for many refers solely to Mexico City, with the pejorative view that anywhere outside the capital is a hopeless backwater. "Fuera de México, todo es Cuauhtitlán" ["outside of Mexico City, it's all Podunk"], that is, poor, marginal, and backward, in short,

13728-487: 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

13904-496: The Viceroyalty); Panama (1st one, 1538–1543); Guatemala (1543); Guadalajara (1548); Manila (1583). Audiencia districts further incorporated the older, smaller divisions known as governorates ( gobernaciones , roughly equivalent to provinces ), which had been originally established by conquistador -governors known as adelantados . Provinces which were under military threat were grouped into captaincies general , such as

14080-449: The ample tithe income indicates, plus manufacturing woolen cloth for the domestic market. Merchants, manufacturers, and artisans were important to the city's economic fortunes, but its early prosperity was followed by stagnation and decline in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The foundation of the town of Puebla was a pragmatic social experiment to settle Spanish immigrants without encomiendas to pursue farming and industry. Puebla

14256-501: The blending of Spanish and indigenous cultures. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Spanish settlers founded major cities such as Mexico City, Puebla , and Guadalajara , turning New Spain into a vital part of the Spanish Empire. The discovery of silver in Zacatecas and Guanajuato significantly boosted the economy, leading to conflicts like the Chichimeca War . Missions and presidios were established in northern frontiers, aiding in

14432-409: 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

14608-631: 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

14784-419: 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

14960-503: The cacique denied that the King of Spain had dominion over his land, and insisted on tribute for allowing the Spanish to build a church or bring in settlers. The Native Americans demanded food, rum and clothing, but refused to work for the Spanish. Father Morano reported attacks on the mission by bands of Uchizas (the Creeks who later became known as Seminoles ). Fathers Mónaco and Alaña developed

15136-404: The capital and the Gulf Coast port of Veracruz , size and complexity of indigenous populations, and the presence or absence of mineral resources. Central and southern Mexico had dense indigenous populations, each with complex social, political, and economic organization, but no large-scale deposits of silver to draw Spanish settlers. By contrast, the northern area of Mexico was arid and mountainous,

15312-427: The case of coontie), and made into a type of unleavened bread. (Archaeologists have commented, however, on the lack of evidence for coontie use in excavated sites.) Briton Hammon , the sole survivor of a British sloop that was attacked by Tequestas after grounding off Key Biscayne in 1748, reported that the Tequestas fed him boil'd corn . The Tequestas changed their habitation during the year. In particular, most of

15488-477: 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

15664-581: The colonial era was considered marginal to Spanish interests compared to the most densely populated and lucrative areas of central Mexico. To shore up its claims in North America in the eighteenth century as other powers encroached on its claims, the crown sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest , which explored and claimed the coast of British Columbia and Alaska. Religious missions and fortified presidios were established to shore up Spanish control on

15840-491: 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

16016-411: 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

16192-571: The crown to oversee the Church in all aspects save doctrine. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was created by royal decree on October 12, 1535, in the Kingdom of New Spain with a viceroy appointed as the king's "deputy" or substitute. This was the first New World viceroyalty and one of only two that the Spanish Rmpire administered in the continent until the 18th-century Bourbon Reforms . At its greatest extent,

16368-429: The dead chief's relatives, with the larger bones going to the closest relations. The Tequesta men consumed cassina , the black drink , in ceremonies similar to those common throughout the southeastern United States . The Spanish missionaries also reported that the Tequesta worshipped a stuffed deer as the representative of the sun, and as late as 1743 worshipped a picture of a badly deformed barracuda crossed by

16544-465: The discovery of silver in the north, the Spanish sought to conquer or pacify those peoples in order to exploit the mines and develop enterprises to supply them. Nonetheless, much of northern New Spain had sparse indigenous population and attracted few Europeans. The Spanish crown and later the Republic of Mexico did not effectively exert sovereignty over the region, leaving it vulnerable to the expansionism of

16720-453: 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

16896-558: 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

17072-524: The establishment of economic societies, were part of the efforts to enhance efficiency and revenue for the crown. The decline of New Spain culminated in the early 19th century with the Mexican War of Independence. Following Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla 's 1810 Cry of Dolores , the insurgent army waged an eleven-year war against Spanish rule. The eventual alliance between royalist military officer Agustín de Iturbide and insurgent leader Vicente Guerrero led to

17248-504: The even worse treatment given to the black slaves. In colonial Mexico, Encomenderos de Negros were specialized middlemen during the first half of the seventeenth century. While encomendero (alternatively, encomenderos de indios) generally refers to men granted the labor and tribute of a particular indigenous group in the immediate post-conquest era, encomenderos de negros were Portuguese slave dealers who were permitted to operate in Mexico for

17424-418: 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

17600-513: The expansion and control of territories that later became part of the southwestern United States. The 18th century saw the implementation of the Bourbon Reforms , which aimed to modernize and strengthen the colonial administration and economy. These reforms included the creation of intendancies , increased military presence, and the centralization of royal authority. The expulsion of the Jesuits and

17776-471: 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

17952-588: 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,

18128-516: The eyes, one in the shadow, and one in the reflection. The Tequestas may have practiced human sacrifice . While en route from Havana to Biscayne Bay in 1743, Spanish missionaries heard that the Native Americans of the Keys (apparently including the Tequestas) had gone to Santaluz (the village of Santa Lucea was at the St. Lucie Inlet ) for a celebration of a recent peace treaty, and that the chief of Santaluz

18304-528: 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,

18480-572: The forced abdication of the Bourbon monarch, Charles IV . This resulted in a political crisis in New Spain and much of the Spanish Empire in 1808, which ended with the government of Viceroy José de Iturrigaray . Conspiracies of American-born Spaniards sought to take power, leading to the Mexican War of Independence , 1810–1821. At its conclusion in 1821, the viceroyalty was dissolved and the Mexican Empire

18656-417: The formation of regional identity that they became the basis for the nations of Central America and the first Mexican states after independence . As part of the sweeping eighteenth-century administrative and economic changes known as the Bourbon Reforms , the Spanish crown created new administrative units called intendancies , to strengthen central control over the viceroyalty. Some measures aimed to break

18832-527: 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

19008-620: The fruit and roots of local plants. Most of their food came from the sea. Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda , who lived among the tribes of southern Florida for seventeen years in the 16th century, described their "common" diet as "fish, turtle and snails, and tunny and whale"; the "sea-wolf" ( Caribbean monk seal ) was reserved for the upper classes. According to Fontaneda, a lesser part of the diet consisted of trunkfish and lobster . The "fish" caught included manatees , sharks , sailfish , porpoises , stingrays , and small fish. Despite their local abundance, clams , oysters and conches were only

19184-694: The ground. On the mainland, the administrative units included Las Californias , that is, the Baja California peninsula, still part of Mexico and divided into Baja California and Baja California Sur ; Alta California (modern Arizona , California , Nevada , Utah , western Colorado , and southern Wyoming ); (from the 1760s) Louisiana (including the western Mississippi River basin and the Missouri River basin); Nueva Extremadura (the modern states of Coahuila and Texas ); and Santa Fe de Nuevo México (parts of Texas and New Mexico ). The Viceroyalty

19360-529: The inhabitants of the main village relocated to barrier islands or to the Florida Keys during the worst of the mosquito season, which lasted about three months. While the resources of the Biscayne Bay area and the Florida Keys allowed for a somewhat settled non-agricultural existence, they were not as rich as those of the southwest Florida coast, home of the more numerous Calusa. Briton Hammon reported that

19536-453: The lack of state involvement in the development of physical infrastructure was to have lasting effects, constraining development until the late nineteenth century. Despite the road improvements, transit was still difficult, particularly for heavy military equipment. Although the crown had ambitious plans for both the Toluca and Veracruz portions of the king's highway, improvements were limited to

19712-518: 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

19888-476: 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

20064-412: The mines in the north of Mexico had a workforce of black slave labor and indigenous wage labor, not draft labor. Indigenous who were drawn to the mining areas were from different regions of the center of Mexico, with a few from the north itself. With such diversity they did not have a common ethnic identity or language and rapidly assimilated to Hispanic culture. Although mining was difficult and dangerous,

20240-548: The monarch rather than the conqueror Cortés. New Spain was the first of the viceroyalties that Spain created, the second being Peru in 1542, following the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire . Both New Spain and Peru had dense indigenous populations at conquest as a source of labor and material wealth in the form of vast silver deposits, discovered and exploited beginning in the mid-1500s. New Spain developed strong regional divisions based on local climate, topography, distance from

20416-679: The most strongly marked cultural boundaries in the New World", noting that the Straits were also a boundary between agricultural systems, with Florida Native Americans growing seed crops that originated in Mexico , while the Lucayans of the Bahamas grew root crops that originated in South America. The Tequesta language may have been closely related to the language of the Calusas of the southwest Florida coast and

20592-418: The movement of vital goods and people to get to key areas. Even in the relatively richly endowed region of Mexico, the difficulty of transit of people and goods in the absence of rivers and level terrain remained a major challenge to the economy of New Spain. This challenge persisted during the post-independence years until the late nineteenth-century construction of railroads. In the colonial era and up until

20768-461: The multiethnic Indian populations in the Veracruz area and for that reason Spaniards imported black slaves as either an alternative to indigenous labor or its complete replacement in the event of a repetition of the Caribbean die-off. A few Spaniards acquired prime agricultural lands left vacant by the indigenous demographic disaster. Portions of the province could support sugar cultivation and as early as

20944-526: The native population of Florida and reducing Spanish control over the area. Great Britain took possession of Florida as part of 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

21120-471: 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 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

21296-524: The north, the Jaega . Estimates of the number of Tequesta at the time of initial European contact range from 800 to 10,000, while estimates of the number of Calusa on the southwest coast of Florida range from 2,000 to 20,000. Occupation of the Florida Keys may have swung back and forth between the two tribes. Although Spanish records note a Tequesta village on Cape Sable, Calusa artifacts outnumber Tequesta artifacts by four to one at its archaeological sites. On

21472-501: The only viable Gulf Coast port, the gateway for Spain to New Spain. The difficult topography around the port affected local development and New Spain as a whole. Going from the port to the central plateau entailed a daunting 2000 meter climb from the narrow tropical coastal plain in just over a hundred kilometers. The narrow, slippery road in the mountain mists was treacherous for mule trains, and in some cases mules were hoisted by ropes. Many tumbled with their cargo to their deaths. Given

21648-528: 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

21824-455: 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

22000-417: The periphery. The picture is far more complex, however; while the capital is enormously important as the center of institutional, economic, and social power, the provinces played a significant role in colonial Mexico. Regions (provinces) developed and thrived to the extent that they became sites of economic production and tied into networks of trade. "Spanish society in the Indies was import-export oriented at

22176-477: The population there, a far greater proportion than any other area of New Spain, and greater than even nearby Jalapa. In 1765 the crown created a monopoly on tobacco, which directly affected agriculture and manufacturing in the Veracruz region. Tobacco was a valuable, high-demand product. Men, women, and even children smoked, something commented on by foreign travelers and depicted in eighteenth-century casta paintings. The crown calculated that tobacco could produce

22352-554: The port of Acapulco and European goods via the flota (convoy) from the Spanish port of Cádiz . Spaniards also settled in the temperate area of Orizaba , east of the Citlaltepetl volcano. Orizaba varied considerably in elevation from 800 metres (2,600 ft) to 5,700 metres (18,700 ft) (the summit of the Citlaltepetl volcano), but "most of the inhabited part is temperate." Some Spaniards lived in semitropical Córdoba , which

22528-452: The port of Veracruz and the capital had some short sections paved and bridges constructed. The construction was done despite protests from some indigenous settlements when the infrastructure improvements, which sometimes included rerouting the road through communal lands. The Spanish crown finally decided that road improvement was in the interests of the state for military purposes, as well as for fostering commerce, agriculture, and industry, but

22704-474: The power of local elites in order to improve the economy of the empire. Reforms included the improvement of public participation in communal affairs, distribution of undeveloped lands to the indigenous and Spaniards, ending the corrupt practices of local crown officials, encouraging trade and mining, and establishing a system of territorial division similar to the model created by the government of France, already adopted in Spain. The establishment of intendancies

22880-528: 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

23056-652: 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

23232-412: The railroads were built in key areas in post-independence in the late nineteenth century, mule trains were the main mode of transporting goods. Pack mules were used because unpaved roads, mountainous terrain, and seasonal flooding could not generally accommodate carts. In the late eighteenth century, the crown devoted some resources to study and remedy the poor roads. The Camino Real (royal road) between

23408-440: The region since the 3rd century BC in the late Archaic period of the continent , and remained for roughly 2,000 years, By the 1800s, most had died as a result of settlement battles, slavery, and disease. The Tequesta tribe had only a few survivors by the time that Spanish Florida was traded to the British, who then established the area as part of the province of East Florida . The Tequesta tribe lived on Biscayne Bay in what

23584-522: 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

23760-633: The regions or provinces that had developed earlier in the center, South, and North. Many of the intendancy boundaries became Mexican state boundaries after independence. The intendancies were created between 1764 and 1789, with the greatest number in the mainland in 1786: 1764 La Habana (later subdivided); 1766 Nueva Orleans; 1784 Puerto Rico; 1786 México, Veracruz, Puebla de Los Ángeles, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Durango, Oaxaca, Guatemala, San Salvador, Comayagua, León, Santiago de Cuba, Puerto Príncipe; 1789 Mérida. The history of mainland New Spain spans three hundred years from

23936-603: 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

24112-416: 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

24288-458: The same monarch and Portuguese slave traders had access to Spanish markets, African slaves were imported in large numbers to New Spain and many of them remained in the region of Veracruz. But even when that connection was broken and prices rose, black slaves remained an important component of Córdoba's labor sector even after 1700. Rural estates in Córdoba depended on African slave labor, who were 20% of

24464-494: The same name. It became the seat of the richest diocese in New Spain in its first century, with the seat of the first diocese, formerly in Tlaxcala, moved there in 1543. Bishop Juan de Palafox asserted that the income from the diocese of Puebla was twice that of the archbishopic of Mexico, due to the tithe income derived from agriculture. In its first hundred years, Puebla was prosperous from wheat farming and other agriculture, as

24640-471: 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

24816-426: 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

24992-401: The seventeenth century, but silver mining in Mexico out-performed all other Spanish overseas territories in revenues for the royal coffers. The fast red dye cochineal was an important export in areas such as central Mexico and Oaxaca in terms of revenues to the crown and stimulation of the internal market of New Spain. Cacao and indigo were also important exports for the New Spain, but

25168-532: The ships in Pedro Menéndez de Avilés ' fleet took refuge from a storm in Biscayne Bay. The main Tequesta village was located there, and Menéndez was well received by the Tequestas. The Jesuits with him took the Tequesta chief's nephew with them back to Havana , Cuba , to be educated, while the chief's brother went to Spain with Menéndez, where he converted to Christianity . In March 1567, Menéndez returned to

25344-507: The ships that set sail from Veracruz were generally loaded with merchandise from the East Indies originating from the commercial centers of the Philippines , plus the precious metals and natural resources of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. During the 16th century, Spain held the equivalent of US$ 1.5 trillion (1990 terms) in gold and silver received from New Spain. However, these resources did not translate into development for

25520-557: 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

25696-470: The slave trade. In Peru, the other discovery that perpetuated the system of forced labor, the mit'a , was the enormously rich single silver mine discovered at Potosí, but in New Spain, labor recruitment differed significantly. With the exception of silver mines worked in the Aztec period at Taxco , southwest of Tenochtitlan, the Mexico's mining region was outside the area of dense indigenous settlement. Labor for

25872-527: The soldiers be withdrawn, and the stockade burned to deny it to the Uchizas. He also forwarded the missionaries' plan to Spain, where the Council of the Indies decided that the proposed mission on Biscayne Bay would be costly and impractical. The second attempt to establish a mission on Biscayne Bay had lasted less than three months. When Spain surrendered Florida to Britain in 1763, the remaining Tequestas, along with other Native Americans that had taken refuge in

26048-411: The soldiers executed an uncle of the chief. Brother Francisco was forced to abandon the mission for a while, but when the chief's brother returned from Spain, Brother Francisco was able to return. However, the mission was abandoned shortly thereafter, in 1570. Starting in 1704, it was the policy of the Spanish government to resettle Florida Native Americans in Cuba so that they could be indoctrinated into

26224-490: 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

26400-568: 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

26576-425: The successful campaign for independence. In 1821, New Spain officially became the independent nation of Mexico, ending three centuries of Spanish colonial rule. During the era of the conquest, in order to pay off the debts incurred by the conquistadors and their companies, the new Spanish governors awarded their men grants of native tribute and labor, known as encomiendas . In New Spain these grants were modeled after

26752-446: The transport constraints, only high-value, low-bulk goods continued to be shipped in the transatlantic trade, which stimulated local production of foodstuffs, rough textiles, and other products for a mass market. Although New Spain produced considerable sugar and wheat, these were consumed exclusively in the colony even though there was demand elsewhere. Philadelphia, not New Spain, supplied Cuba with wheat. The Caribbean port of Veracruz

26928-539: The tribute and corvee labor that the Mexica rulers had demanded from native communities. This system came to signify the oppression and exploitation of natives, although its originators may not have set out with such intent. In short order the upper echelons of patrons and priests in the society lived off the work of the lower classes. Due to some horrifying instances of abuse against the indigenous peoples, Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas suggested bringing black slaves to replace them. Fray Bartolomé later repented when he saw

27104-657: 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. New Spain New Spain , officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( Spanish : Virreinato de Nueva España [birejˈnato ðe ˈnweβa esˈpaɲa] ; Nahuatl : Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl ), originally

27280-610: 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,

27456-629: The very base and in every aspect," and the development of many regional economies was typically centered on support of that export sector. Mexico City was the center of the Central region, and the hub of New Spain. The development of Mexico City itself was vitally important to the development of New Spain as a whole. It was the seat of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the Archdiocese of the Catholic Church,

27632-462: The viceregal capital and the port of Veracruz, in a fertile basin with a dense indigenous population, largely not held in encomienda , made Puebla a destination for later arriving Spaniards. If there had been significant mineral wealth in Puebla, it could have been even more prominent a center for New Spain, but its first century established its importance. In 1786 it became the capital of an intendancy of

27808-405: The wages were good, which is what drew the indigenous labor. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was the principal source of income for Spain in the eighteenth century, with the revival of mining under the Bourbon Reforms . Important mining centers like Zacatecas , Guanajuato , San Luis Potosí and Hidalgo had been established in the sixteenth century and suffered decline for a variety of reasons in

27984-499: 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

28160-416: The women wore skirts of Spanish moss or plant fibers hanging from a belt. By one account, when the Tequestas for a tradition buried their chiefs, they buried the small bones with the body, and put the large bones in a box for the village people to adore and hold as their gods. Another account says that the Tequestas stripped the flesh from the bones, burning the flesh, and then distributed the cleaned bones to

28336-520: Was a kingdom and not a colony, subject to the presiding monarch on the Iberian Peninsula . The monarch had sweeping power in the overseas territories, with not just sovereignty over the realm but also property rights. All power over the state came from the monarch. The crown had sweeping powers over the Catholic Church in its overseas territories, and via the Patronato real , a grant by the papacy to

28512-433: Was administered by a viceroy residing in Mexico City and appointed by the Spanish monarch , who had administrative oversight of all of these regions, although most matters were handled by the local governmental bodies, which ruled the various regions of the viceroyalty. First among these were the audiencias , which were primarily superior tribunals, but which also had administrative and legislative functions. Each of these

28688-450: 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 was on its side. By Pinckney's Treaty of 1795 with

28864-488: Was built in the Mesoamerican heartland of the Aztec Empire in Central Mexico. The South (Oaxaca, Michoacán, Yucatán, and Central America) was a region of dense indigenous settlement of Mesoamerica, but without exploitable resources of interest to Europeans, the area attracted few Europeans, while the indigenous presence remained strong. The North was outside the area of complex indigenous populations, inhabited primarily by nomadic and hostile northern indigenous groups. With

29040-410: Was established in 1527, prior to the establishment of the viceroyalty. The First Audiencia was headed by Hernán Cortés 's rival Nuño de Guzmán , who used the court to deprive Cortés of power and property. The crown dissolved the First Audiencia and established the Second Audiencia. The audiencias of New Spain were Santo Domingo (1511, effective 1526, predated the Viceroyalty); Mexico (1527, predated

29216-430: Was established. Former royalist military officer turned insurgent for independence Agustín de Iturbide would be crowned as emperor. The Kingdom of New Spain was established on 18 August 1521, following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire , as a New World kingdom ruled by the Crown of Castile . The initial funds for exploration came from Queen Isabella . Although New Spain was a dependency of Castile, it (Mexico)

29392-459: Was founded as a villa in 1618, to serve as a Spanish base against runaway slave ( cimarrón ) predations on mule trains traveling the route from the port to the capital. Some cimarrón settlements sought autonomy, such as one led by Gaspar Yanga , with whom the crown concluded a treaty leading to the recognition of a largely black town, San Lorenzo de los Negros de Cerralvo, later called the municipality of Yanga. European diseases immediately affected

29568-443: Was going to sacrifice a young girl as part of the celebration. The missionaries sent a message to the chief begging him not to sacrifice the girl, and the chief relented. The Miami Circle is located on the site of a known Tequesta village south of the mouth of the Miami River (probably the town of Tequesta ). It consists of 24 large holes or basins, and many smaller holes, which have been cut into bedrock. Together these holes form

29744-469: 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

29920-471: 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

30096-457: Was privileged in a number of ways, starting with its status as a Spanish settlement not founded on existing indigenous city-state, but with a significant indigenous population. It was located in a fertile basin on a temperate plateau in the nexus of the key trade triangle of Veracruz–Mexico City–Antequera (Oaxaca). Although there were no encomiendas in Puebla itself, encomenderos with nearby labor grants settled in Puebla. And despite its foundation as

30272-539: Was responsible to the Viceroy of New Spain in administrative matters (though not in judicial ones), but they also answered directly to the Council of the Indies . The Captaincy Generals were the second-level administrative divisions and these were relatively autonomous from the viceroyalty. The viceroy was captain-general of those provinces that remained directly under his command. Santo Domingo (1535); Philippines (1565); Puerto Rico (1580); Cuba (1608); Guatemala (1609); Yucatán (1617); Commandancy General of

30448-443: Was small, with its hot, pestilential climate not a draw for permanent settlers: its population never topped 10,000. Many Spanish merchants preferred living in the pleasant highland town of Jalapa (1,500 m). For a brief period (1722–76) the town of Jalapa became even more important than Veracruz, after it was granted the right to hold the royal trade fair for New Spain, serving as the entre for goods from Asia via Manila galleon through

30624-401: Was strongly resisted by the viceroyalties and general captaincies similar to the opposition in the Iberian Peninsula when the reform was adopted. Royal audiencias and ecclesiastical hierarchs opposed the reform for its intervention in economic issues, for its centralist politics, and the forced ceding of many of their functions to the intendants. In New Spain, these units generally corresponded to

30800-420: 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

30976-404: Was used through rather the vice royalties rather than contact with European countries due to piracy, and smuggling. The indigo industry in particular also helped to temporarily unite communities throughout the Kingdom of Guatemala due to the smuggling. There were two major ports in New Spain, Veracruz the viceroyalty's principal port on the Atlantic, and Acapulco on the Pacific, terminus of

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