Size of La Florida in the 1700s

Spanish La Florida in the 1700s was a vast, loosely controlled territory stretching far beyond today's state lines.

Territorial Extent (Peak, pre-1763)

• Area: ~750,000 km² (290,000 sq mi) — larger than Texas.
• North: 31°N parallel (approx. Mobile Bay to Savannah River).
• South: Florida Keys / 24°N (undefined, contested with Britain/Bahamas).
• West: Mississippi River (border with French Louisiana).
• East: Atlantic Ocean.

Administrative Divisions

• Provincias: Pensacola (west), St. Augustine (east), Apalachee (north-central), Timucua/Guale (coastal missions).
• Presidios: St. Augustine (1565), Pensacola (1698), San Marcos de Apalache (St. Marks), Los Adaes (capital of Texas province, briefly).
• Mission chain: 30+ Franciscan missions along Camino Real (St. Augustine → Tallahassee → Pensacola).

Population & Settlement

• Spanish: ~3,000–5,000 (soldiers, officials, settlers, friars).
• Native allies: ~10,000–15,000 (Apalachee, Timucua, Guale, Yamasee — declining from disease).
• Enslaved Africans: ~1,000+ (St. Augustine, ranches).
• Free Black militia: Fort Mose (1738) — first free Black settlement in US.

Landscape

• Coastal marshes, barrier islands, pine flatwoods, cypress swamps, prairies (Alachua), spring-fed rivers (Suwannee, St. Johns).
• Subtropical to temperate transition zone.

Treaty of Paris 1763

Spain ceded Florida to Britain; regained West Florida 1783; ceded all to US 1819 (Adams-Onís Treaty).