February 22 – Anniversary of the Florida Treaty

nPostednon February 22, 2015

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nForncenturies, North America was the home of a variety of peoples, fromnInuit and Tlingit in the north to Apalachee and Hopi in the south.

nBut starting in the late 1400s, Europeans came, explored, and settlednin North America. Explorer and conquistador Ponce de Leon led annexpedition to a land he named Florida, or Festival of Flowers; henclaimed the land for Spain in 1513.

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nFastnforward a smidge more than three centuries. On this date in 1819,nSpain ceded Florida to the United States.

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Insaw in several sources that the U.S. purchased Florida from thenSpanish crown, but actually, the U.S. did not pay for the territory.nInstead, the United States agreed to pay the legal claims of Americanncitizens against Spain. The maximum that would be paid was a goodlynsum – five million dollars. n

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nThenFlorida Treaty was considered a triumph of American diplomacy. Sincenthe nation was still relatively young compared to other nations inn1819, obtaining territory through peaceful negotiation was notnnecessarily an easy accomplishment!

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nSeasnand Keys

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Floridanis considered by many to be one of the best states in the nation.nAfter all, it has mild winters and lots of sunshine, great beachesnand state parks, Disney World and other amusement parks, andnyear-round camping and outdoor activities.

nI live in SouthernnCalifornia, and we have all of those things, too! But Florida has anfew extra-extra-special features: loads of islands (the FloridanKeys), and awesome diving and snorkeling (in the Caribbean Sea). n

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nThenFlorida Keys are islands that are the remnants of an old coral reef.nThere are many islands – about 1,700 of them! – but only about 30nare inhabited.

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nOnlyn43 islands are connected by bridges. The rest – most of which arenreally small – have to be explored by water. The Seven Mile Bridgenconnects Knight’s Key to Little Duck Key. It is one of the longestnbridges ever built. n
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nKeynWest is (you guessed it) the westernmost of the inhabited islands.nKey Largo is (as you might also guess) the largest of the keys. n

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nThosentwo keys get mentioned a lot, but there are a lot of Keys I had nevernheard of before. I love the names No Name Key and Knockemdown Key!nThere are also keys named after flowers (Wisteria Key), animalsn(Raccoon Key), state names (Ohio Key), general nouns (Boot Key) andnverbs (Crawl Key) and adjectives (Ragged Keys). n

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nAsnyou can imagine, tourism is key to the Keys’ economies. Many visitorsnlove to scuba dive in the waters of the Caribbean Sea. Commercial andnrecreational fishing are also important.

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