USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In 1693, King Charles II of Spain ordered his Florida colonists to give runaway slaves from British colonies freedom and protection if they converted to Catholicism and agreed to serve Spain.

Detailed explanation-2: -Most of them worked on large plantations established by wealthy “planters”, an elite class composed of farmers who owned at least 20 slaves and more than 500 acres. This planter class – 21 percent of Florida’s slaveholders – held more than 75 percent of Florida’s slaves.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 1539, slavery arrived in present-day Florida when the slave trader and Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto attempted to establish a permanent settlement and claim more territory for Spain.

Detailed explanation-4: -Florida was under colonial rule by Spain from the 16th century to the 19th century, and briefly by Great Britain during the 18th century (1763–1783) before becoming a territory of the United States in 1821. Two decades later, on March 3, 1845, Florida was admitted to the Union as the 27th U.S. state.

Detailed explanation-5: -Spain’s effective claim to Florida began with Juan Ponce de León’s discovery and naming of the flowery peninsula in 1513. Ponce de León led the first European expedition to the Dry Tortugas, today commemorated at Fort Jefferson National Monument.