Spainish Florida - myLOC.gov (Library of Congress)

Exploring the Early Americas The Jay I. Kislak Collection

Pre-Contact America | Explorations and Encounters | Aftermath of the Encounter

Languages and Religion | Competition for Empire | Documenting New Knowledge

Spanish Florida

La Florida included the vast territory claimed by Spain on the basis of the explorations by Juan Ponce de León (1460–1521) in 1513 and 1521. Encompassing lands from the Gulf Coast of Texas to the Chesapeake Bay, Spanish Florida existed from 1565 to 1763, when Florida (by then reduced in size to today’s Florida and parts of Alabama and Georgia) came under British control. Spain regained possession of Florida from 1784 until 1821 when the territory became part of the United States.

Abraham Ortelius. “La Florida/Guastecan from Peruuiae avriferae regionis typus. . . .” Antwerp: Christophorum Plantinum, 1584. Facsimile. Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress (110.01.00)

La Florida Map

This map is the first separately printed one showing the extent of Spanish Florida, which stretched from the Chesapeake Bay to present-day New Mexico at the end of the sixteenth century. The other colonizing powers, most notably England and France, would try for centuries to wrest control of that area from Spain. French settlements took hold in the late seventeen century in Louisiana and Britain colonized Georgia and other areas close by.

Cornelis van Wytfliet. Descriptionis Ptolemaicae Augmentum . . . [Descriptions of Ptolemy Increased . . . ]. Louvain: Tijpis Gerardi: Riuij. 1598. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (110.02.01)

The Spanish Concept of Florida

Secretary to the Council of Brabant (Flanders), Cornelis van Wytfliet was also much interested in geography. His descriptionis, considered to be the first atlas devoted to the Americas, includes nineteen maps of the region. His map designating “Florida” and “Apalache” is based on an earlier map by Jernimo de Chaves and reflects the Spanish concept of Florida as an extensive portion of southern North America rather than being merely an appendage or peninsula.

Rene Goulaine de Laudonnière L’histoire notable de la Floride (A noteworthy history of Florida). Paris: Guillaume Auvray, 1586. Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (108.01.01)

The First Description of Florida Indians

Rene Goulaine de Laudonnière (ca. 1529–1574) survived and wrote this French account of the destruction of French Fort Caroline in 1565, which includes the first European images of indigenous Americans. After the Spaniards had won, they attached notes to the victims saying that they had not killed Frenchmen, but heretics. When the French had the opportunity to return the “favor,” three years later, they left notes on Spanish corpses that said, “not as Spaniards, but as assassins.”

Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (ca. 1490–ca. 1557). Relación y comentarios del Governador Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca [Account and commentaries of Govenor Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca]. [Valladolid: Francisco Fernández de Cordova, 1555], Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (107.01.00)

Spaniards Enslaved by Indians

This account tells how four men of the 600-member Narváez expedition to Florida—Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, two other Spaniards, and an African slave, Esteban—survived a seven-year trek on foot from Florida through Texas to Mexico City. The four survivors arrived in Mexico in 1536, having survived hardships, privation, Indian attacks, and even enslavement.

Francisco de Pareja Catecismo en Lengua Timuquana y Castellana (Catechism in the Timucuan and Spanish languages). Mexico: Juan Ruiz, 1627. Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (104.00.02)

Bilingual Catechism in Spanish and Timucuan

This catechism is the first in both Spanish and an Indian language spoken in what would become the United States. The conversion of the Indians in Florida to Christianity was essential for the early viability of the colony in St. Augustine. Without the cooperation of the hinterland Indians and the provision of food for the colonists, St. Augustine would never have survived. The Timucua, however, suffered from diseases, conscription into wars, and many demands on their labor. Ultimately, they perished.

[Map of the town, fort, and entrance to the harbor of St. Augustine and vicinity, Florida, 1595]. Pen-and-ink tracing. Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress (167.00.00)

Map of St. Augustine and Vicinity

This map shows how the town of St. Augustine and neighboring St. Sebastian had developed by 1595. This minutely detailed depiction includes the coastline, coastal features, and entrance to the harbor, as well as the fortress and the town, and local flora. This map is a copy of a 1595 original map original housed in the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain.

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. Sailing orders, July 3, 1572. Holograph manuscript. Jay I. Kislak Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (111.00.00)

Spanish Treasure

In the age of piracy on the high seas, sailing instructions were top-secret documents protecting the security of the king’s fleet and his treasure from all-too-frequent threats from intruders. Here, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, governor of Florida, gives Don Cristóbal de Eraso complicated and detailed instructions for sailing to Spain on the Buenaventura with his fleet, via the islands of Flores and San Miguel. He is told not to proceed beyond a designated rendezvous without further instructions from Menéndez, “under penalty of paying with his person and his property for any injury to his Majesty or his royal treasury.”

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