Timeline of Florida History

1500s

1502: Florida is mapped on the Portuguese Cantino map.

1513 April 2: Ponce de Leon is claimed to have discovered Florida.

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

1528: Panfilo de Narvaez expedition explores the Pinellas Peninsula.

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

1549: A fleet led by Tristán de Luna y Arellano anchors in Pensacola Bay and sets 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 by the French.

1565: Pedro Menéndez de Avilés establishes the city of St. Augustine.

1565 September 20: Spanish attack Fort Caroline and kill most of the French, some 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.

1600s

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.

1700s

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.

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

1783 March 10: Final naval battle of the American Revolution fought off Cape Canaveral with Captain John Barry.

1783 October 3: Treaty of Paris ends American Revolutionary War. England cedes Florida to Spain.

1800–1842

1817–1818: First Seminole War.

1821: Spain cedes Florida to United States.

1824: Florida's first true lighthouse built in St. Augustine.

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

1825: Lighthouse built in St. Augustine.

1834: Territorial Legislature establishes Hillsborough County, Florida.

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.

Statehood era (1845–present)

1845: Florida was admitted to the Union as the 27th U.S. state.

1855-1858: Third Seminole War

1856: Florida Historical Society is incorporated.

1883 December 10: The South Florida Railroad, controlled by Henry B. Plant, becomes the first railroad to arrive in Tampa.

1887 August 15: Eatonville, Florida, incorporated; the first all-black town to be formed after the Emancipation Proclamation.

1888 February 22: President Cleveland's first Florida visit stop.

1888 February 23: President Cleveland visits Winter Park.

1894 December: Great Freeze destroys much of Florida's crops (especially citrus).

1896 April 15: The Florida East Coast Railway, controlled by Henry Flagler, becomes the first railroad to arrive in Miami.

1943 September 26: Florida's first oil well is drilled in Collier County by Humble Oil Company.

1962 February 20: John Glenn orbits the Earth three times with Friendship 7.

1966: Miami Dolphins football team active.

1969 July 20: A rocket launched from Cape Canaveral lands man on the moon with mission Apollo 11.

1971 October 1: Walt Disney World opens.

1973 December 15: SeaWorld Orlando opens

1976: Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team active.

1982 October 1: The Walt Disney Company opens its second park in Florida, Epcot.

1988: Miami Heat basketball team active.

1989

May 1: Walt Disney World opens its third park, Disney's Hollywood Studios (originally Disney-MGM Studios).

October 13: Orlando Magic basketball team active.

1990 June 7: Universal Studios Florida opens in Orlando.

1992: Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team active.

1993: 3 professional sports teams are introduced in Florida. Miami Marlins baseball team, Jacksonville Jaguars football team and Florida Panthers hockey team.

1998

April 22: Walt Disney World opens its fourth park, Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Tampa Bay Rays baseball team active. (originally as the "Tampa Bay Devil Rays)

1999 May 28: Universal Studios opens its adjacent park, Islands of Adventure.

2000 November 7–December 12: Disputed ballots in the United States presidential election in Florida, 2000 delay the results of the overall national result