Florida: claim vs. control. Ponce de Leon's 1513 claim (mortally wounded by the Calusa, 1521); St. Augustine 1565 = fort town; Spanish Florida for ~250 years = St.…

SUMMARYFlorida: claim vs. control. Ponce de Leon's 1513 claim (mortally wounded by the Calusa, 1521); St. Augustine 1565 = fort town; Spanish Florida for ~250 years = St. Augustine, Pensacola, a mission chain; Carolina raids destroyed the missions 1702-1704; three Seminole Wars 1817-1858 (interior held by Seminoles, Black Seminoles, maroons into the 1840s-50s); Spain transfers its Florida claim to the US 1821 (Adams-Onis), then US control expands outward war by war; the Seminoles never signed a surrender; Fort Brooke/Tampa 1824; most Florida towns founded after 1821. In 1776 the Southeast belonged to sovereign confederacies (Creek/Muscogee Confederacy, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw); settlers held the coastal strip. Record.