Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TIMELINE
10,000 BC
After crossing the Bering Strait from Siberia some 50,000 years earlier, humans arrive in Florida,
hunting mastodon and saber-toothed tigers, at the end of the last ice age.
AD 500
Indigenous peoples settle in year-round villages and begin farming, cultivating the 'three sisters'
of corn, beans and squash, plus pumpkins, lemons and sunflowers.
1513
Ponce de León discovers Florida, landing south of Cape Canaveral, believing it to be an island.
Since it's Easter time, he names it La Florida, 'The Flowery Land' or 'Feast of Flowers.'
1539
Hernando de Soto arrives in Florida with 800 men, seeking rumored cities of gold. He fights Nat-
ive Americans and camps near Tallahassee, but finding no precious metals, keeps marching west.
1565
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founds St Augustine, which becomes the first permanent European
settlement in the New World and is the oldest city in the continental US.
1702
In their ongoing struggle with Spain and France over New World colonies, the British burn St
Augustine to the ground; two years later they destroy 13 Spanish missions in Florida.
1776
The American Revolution begins, but Florida's two colonies don't rebel. They remain loyal to the
British crown, and soon English Tories flood south into Florida to escape the fighting.
1816-1858
