Abstract
The twenty-year period of British sovereignty of the Floridas came to an end September 3, 1783, when the treaty concluding the American Revolution was signed at Versailles, France. The Treaty of Paris, as it was known, gave the Spanish crown control of a large portion of North America. Spain retained sovereignty over the Louisiana Territory, and the Spanish flag once more flew over the Floridas as it had from 1565 to 1763. However, the restoration of Spanish rule in the Floridas, so important for the control of the Bahama Channel, was at best precarious. Spain’s military weakness and the financial difficulties of the Viceroyalty of Mexico loosened the mother country’s heretofore iron control. Castillian interests had begun their decline, and throughout the Western Hemisphere the seeds of the independence movement in Latin American history were beginning to ripen.
Recommended Citation
Poitrineau, Abel
(1987)
"Demography and the Political Destiny of Florida during the Second Spanish Period,"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 66:
No.
4, Article 6.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol66/iss4/6
