A New and Accurate Map of East and West Florida. Drawn from the best Authorities. [18th Century Map of Florida].

$1,500.00

Item Number: 138232

London:, [c. 1765].

Engraved 18th century English map of the state of Florida; one of the earliest printed maps of the state which appeared in the London Magazine in March of 1765. One page, the map is divided into British East and West Florida, showing South Florida as a group of over 50 islands and a number of wide navigable water routes from the Gulf to the Atlantic. In near fine condition. Matted and framed. The entire piece measures 16.75 inches by 17.5 inches.

Under the terms of the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War, Spain ceded Spanish Florida to Britain. At the same time, Britain received all of French Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, with the exception of New Orleans, from France. Determining the new territory too large to administer as one unit, Britain divided its new southeastern acquisitions into two new colonies separated by the Apalachicola River: East Florida, with its capital in the old Spanish city of St. Augustine, and West Florida, with its capital at Pensacola. British West Florida comprised parts of the modern U.S. states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Effective British control ended in 1781 when Spain captured Pensacola. The territory subsequently became a colony of Spain, parts of which were gradually annexed by the United States beginning in 1810. The settlement of East Florida was heavily linked in London with the same interests that controlled Nova Scotia. Both East and West Florida remained loyal to Great Britain during the American War of Independence.