Spanish and French Colonial Forts in La Florida 1562-1763

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Colonial Forts in Comparative, Global, and Contemporary Perspective", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Spanish and French were uninvited and unwelcome by Florida’s indigenous groups and they were rival European countries. As a result, fortifications were essential to protect the invasions. The size and configuration of Spanish and French colonial forts in La Florida varied through time and space depending on their function, local native groups, resources, and government support. Spanish fortifications protecting the treasure flotas, missions, settlers, and frontier borders and the French protected their intrusions into La Florida. The Spanish built at least 25 presidios, 20 outposts, and fortified 7 missions while the French built 15 forts for a total of 67 fortifications. This paper will compare and contrast the design, construction, and evolution of these fortifications. Today, four Spanish and one French colonial fort in the state of Florida are restored or reconstructed as tourist destinations and are interpreted in a positive light as an important part of Florida’s heritage

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Colonial Forts in Comparative, Global, and Contemporary Perspective   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow