Timeline of Florida history

Ancient Map of Florida

• 1502 - Florida is mapped on the Portuguese Cantino_map.

• 1513 – March 27 Ponce de Leon is claimed to have discovered Florida.(Straub, p. 24)

• 1515–1519 Spanish explorers visit Pinellas barrier islands while trading with Tocobaga.

• 1528 Panfilo de Narvaez expedition explores the Pinellas Peninsula. (LBBC, p. 2)

• 1539 Hernando de Soto expedition names present Tampa Bay "La Bahia de Espiritu Santo."

• 1559 A fleet led by Tristán de Luna y Arellano anchors in Pensacola Bay and set up the encampment of Puerto de Santa Maria.

• 1560, Menéndez commanded the galleons of the great Armada de la Carrera Spanish Treasure Fleet

• 1564 Fort_Caroline North of Jacksonville is established as a French Fort.

• 1565 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés establishes St. Augustine

• 1565-September 20, Spanish attack Fort Caroline capture some French others escape.

• 1571-December Pedro Menendez wrecks at Cape Canaveral and meets hostile natives thought to be of the Ais Indian Nation.

• 1586-June, Sir Francis Drake attacks and sacks St. Augustine.

• 1596-March 22, Gonzalo_Méndez_de_Canço appointed Governor and Captain General of Florida.

• 1601 - Spanish King commissioned a map of Florida which includes a Fort he wants built in Miami.

• 1603 Pedro Ibarra appointed Governor of Florida.

• 1605 "Period of Friendship" between Spanish and Native Tribes started because of the diplomatic trip of Alvaro Mexia

• 1700 Settlers in the Province of Carolina and their Indian allies raid the Ais_people

• 1702–1713 Queen Anne's War. Tocobaga virtually annihilated. English raids reach Tampa Bay. Pinellas largely deserted.

• 1715 July 30, Hurricane causes the sinking of the 1715_Treasure_Fleet

• 1743- Spanish established a short-lived mission on Biscayne Bay

• 1739–1748 War of Jenkins' Ear. English mapping expeditions visit Pinellas Peninsula.

• 1757 Spanish expedition renames Tampa Bay "La Bahia de San Fernando", after the Spanish king. Names entrance to Tampa Bay "La Punta de Pinal de Jimenez" (Point of Pines).

• 1763 Spain cedes Florida to England at end of the French and Indian War.

• 1765/66 John Bartram vists Florida in the winter,

• 1768 The colony of New Smyrna is established by Dr. Andrew Turnbull

• 1769 British survey started of the Florida Coast by Bernard Romans

• 1774 William Bartram explores the St. Johns River

• 1783-3-10, Final naval battle of the American Revolution fought off Cape Canaveral with Captain John Barry.

• 1783-10-03, Treaty of Paris (1783) ends American Revolutionary War. England cedes Florida to Spain.

• 1817–1818 First Seminole War.

• 1821 Spain cedes Florida to United States.

• 1824 U S Army establishes Fort Brooke (later to become Tampa, Florida.)

• 1834 Territorial Legislature establishes Hillsborough County, Florida.(PCPD, p. 4)

• 1835–1842 Second Seminole War.

• 1837 Fort Ann was established on the eastern shore of the Indian River in what is now Brevard County.

• 1842 Armed Occupation Act provides for land grants in unsettled parts of Florida.(PCPD, p. 4)

• 1845 Florida was admitted to the union as the 27th US state.

• 1856 Florida Historical Society is incorporated.

• 1887-May, Professor Peck published a descriptive story in Florida Star about the local Indian River pioneers in an article about Gilberts Bar.

• 1887-August 15, Eatonville Florida incorporated first all-black towns to be formed after the Emancipation Proclamation.

• 1888-February 22, President Cleveland's 1st Florida Visit stop

• 1888 February 23, President Cleveland visits Winter Park.

• 1894 December Great Freeze destroys much of Florida's crops especially citrus.

• 1936-March FDR visits Central Florida and is conferred an honorary degree in literature at Rollins College.

• 1937 Zora_Neale_Hurston publishes novel,"Their Eyes Were Watching God."

• 1953-Nov-04 Port Canaveral has its grand opening.

• 1962- Feb 20, John Glenn orbits the Earth 3 times with Friendship 7

• 1962-Feb 23, President JFK awards John Glenn with the NASA service medal.

• 1963-May 16, The City of Cape Canaveral officially incorporated at Florida Legislature.

• 1969-7-20, A rocket launched from Cape Canaveral lands man on the moon with mission Apollo 11