Welcome to the premier site for information on exploring the state of Florida off the beaten path!
At Exploring Florida and More, we’ll focus on Florida’s more intimate side. When most people think of Florida, the main things that come to mind are beaches and theme parks. But Florida is so much more than just seashells and people dressed up like our favorite childhood characters. Exploring Florida and More is where we cover places and events that are unique to Florida that you will definitely want to allow extra time to check out during your visit.
Whether you’re traveling the state of Florida, or a permanent resident, it’s a good bet that there are places right around the corner, full of history and beauty that you would never even know are there. Of course, you can say that about anywhere, but Florida is a unique place that has undergone remarkable changes in its geology, physiology, and especially its culture throughout its rich history.
Geologic History of Florida
The geology of Florida is quite fascinating and extensive. The land we call Florida today goes back 650 million years to a land mass that straddled the south pole called Gondwana which eventually became South American and Africa. Florida was sandwiched between, yet not part of a land mass that contained what is now North America called Laurentia.
As the land masses shifted over millions of years, Florida drifted north and finally became part of Laurentia. Eventually, the supercontinent of Pangea formed around 335 million years ago. Florida was near the center. It was nothing like the watery paradise it is now. Pangea didn’t last very long in the grand scheme of time, only 135 million years. It broke up to become the continents we know today. Florida settled into its modern-day place on the planet except it was still separated from the rest of North America by a sea called the Georgia Channel Seaway.
For over 100 million years Florida went through numerous changes as the planet warmed and cooled. During ice ages, Florida would be twice as wide as it is today. During warmer ages with higher sea levels, Florida was completely submerged. The rocks that make up the Florida foundation are more like the rock you might find in Africa rather than the rest of North America. The limestone that is so prevalent today began to form some 200 million years ago.
For more information, check out Florida Frontiers “The Geologic History of Florida” | Florida Historical Society (myfloridahistory.org)
Florida Biology Before Humans
Indigenous people and prehistoric animals roamed the area for millions of years, at times living in coastal areas where today would be more than a hundred miles out into the Gulf of Mexico. Archaeologists find remains of human settlements at the bottom of the ocean far offshore while teeth from the mighty Megalodon are often found in river sediments well inland. This makes exploring Florida as unique as exploring any place on Earth.
During the period when dinosaurs roamed the planet, Florida would have been submerged so most fossils found from this period are ocean dwellers including the giant megalodon. It’s common for explorers to discover ancient seashells and shark teeth well into the interior of the state. As the climate cooled and land bridges formed allowing humans to move into the Americas from Asia, Florida would have been home to large mammals such as giant mastodons. saber-toothed tigers, giant sloths, tortoises and bison, all of which were hunted by early humans.
Florida Biology After Humans
As the human populations increased, smaller mammals such horses, camels, wolves, giant rodents, armadillos, llamas and tapirs replaced these large mammals over time. These new residents played a vital role for the survival of humans as the last ice age came to an end. Descendants from these animals still live in Florida today, though they are even smaller in size than they were back in that time period. Imagine an eleven-foot armadillo that weighed two tons burrowing in your back yard!
For more information on early humans in Florida, check out these, GIANT MAMMALS WERE THE QUARRY OF ICE AGE HUNTERS IN FLORIDA – Orlando Sentinel and First humans in Florida lived alongside giant animals | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net)
The land and sea also played an important role in the evolution of the early humans that inhabited Florida. Fishing and shellfish were an important part of their diet and lifestyle. Not only did the animals inside the shells provide nutrition, but the natives used the shells for tools, jewelry, eating utensils, and decorations. They used discarded shells to build mounds made of shells and clay that served for religious and political purposes. You can find remains of these ancient mounds throughout the state.
If you’d like to visit some of these sites, check out Shell Mounds in Florida: Portals to the Past (visitflorida.com)
Images from the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature (Bradenton)
Early Florida Culture
It’s difficult to pinpoint an exact time that humans arrived in Florida. The rise in sea levels submerged many of the settlements that might go back more than 14,000 years. The general consensus is about 12,000 years ago, the first Paleo-Indians settled around fresh water filled sink holes and limestone basins what would become Florida. The climate was much cooler and drier than it is today.
With the glaciers retreat at the end of the end of the last ice age, the Florida climate warmed causing the sea level rise, and the eventual demise of the Paleo-Indian culture given that many of the settlements concentrated along the coast. An Archaic culture rose in the warmer environment. These new natives depended on nuts, seeds and shellfish. A farming culture developed over a period of about 5000 years. By the late Archaic period, around 3000 BC, people were living in villages throughout the coastal areas, wetlands and rivers of a Florida that very much resembles what we see today. As fresh water increased, so did the population.
The Archaic culture diverged based on geographic location with the inhabitants of north Florida and the north panhandle depending primarily on maize like the native American cultures found throughout the southeastern part of the United States. The Timucua people of north Florida evolved from these descendants which lasted up until the time the Spanish arrived in 1539. Further south down the peninsula, people did not depend on agriculture and relied primarily on the sea and the estuaries for survival. The primary natives of Florida at the time were the Apalachee, Timucua and Potano in the north half while the Ais, Calusa, Jaega, Mayaimi, Tequesta, Tocobaga and Seminole occupied the south part of Florida.
The First Spanish Era
It’s commonly believed that the pilgrims were the first to arrive in North America or that Jamestown was the first settlement. The truth is the first Europeans to arrive in North America were the Spanish when Juan Ponce De Leon landed on the east coast of Florida near St. Augustine on April 7, 1513. He named the land La Pascua de la Florida after a Spanish Easter feast called Pascua Florida or “feast of flowers.” Ponce De Leon went on to explore the coast of the peninsula all the way to Charlotte Harbor on the west coast.
In 1565, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés established the first permanent settlement by Europeans at St. Augustine which remains the longest permanent settlement in the continental U.S. to this day. St. Augustine became the capital of Spanish occupation of the new Florida territory. St. Augustine served as a staging point for Spanish attacks on French and English settlements in the area.They lived in dangerous times in a dangerous place. Pirates oftern sacked St. Augustine. With European cultural influence dominant and the native cultures of the tribal people on the wane, the Spanish maintained a tumultuous control over the land. Eventually, they traded Florida to the British in 1763. Many Spanish settlers fled to Havana or Manila in the Philippines.
The British Era
The British only occupied Florida for two decades thanks to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War with the colonies. During which time, many rapid changed took place both in architecture, infrastructure and in agriculture. Determined to make the most of their new land, the British offered free land to pioneers. They added additional stories onto buildings to resemble something more English than the single-story Spanish structures. You can see many of these changes even today in St. Augustine. They built roads, cultivated sugar cane and fruit, and established a lumber industry. They developed the court system modeled after the one in Britain which still exists today. It wasn’t to last, though. The British lost the Revolution, and handed Florida back to Spain.
The Second Spanish Era
Spain re-acquired Florida after the British signed the Treaty of Paris in 1783. This period, however, proved problematic for Spain. With Napoleon on its doorstep in Europe and trouble with its territories in South America, the Spanish had little time or interest to pay attention to Florida. At one point, the Spanish saw Florida as vital for protecting its interests in the west, but the cost of keeping control of Florida outweighed the benefit it provided to the Spanish Empire. They could not protect its borders. Americans from neighboring states were settling across Spanish lines into the northern part of the territory. Combined with pressure from the U.S. to control the native American population in Florida, the Spanish ceded Florida to the United States in 1821
**These early pioneers gave rise to the Florida Cracker which were a mix of new Americans and British pioneers who remained once Spain reassumed control. Over time the term evolved to become synonymous with Florida cattlemen that could be heard cracking their whips over long distances.
Path to Statehood
Statehood did not come easy to Florida. Initially plantation owners from the South flooded into the state bringing with them their enslaved Africans. Residents formed a new capital closer to the center of the territory to replace St. Augustine. The named it Tallahassee, and old Seminole term meaning old fields or town. They wanted to bridge the east part of the state with the west part that considered Pensacola its capital. Unfortunately, more people meant more clashes between the white settlers and the native tribes. Few white settlers lived south of what is Gainesville today.
The U.S. government decided removal was the best course, but the native Floridians were not so keen to leave. The Seminole Tribe resisted which led to the outbreak of the Seminole Indian Wars. It took the U.S three separate wars to defeat the Seminoles, forcing many onto reservations west of the Mississippi. Some managed to escape into the refuges of the Everglades where they still exist today. After the Seminole Wars, Florida’s population increased again to over 50,000, half of which were black slaves. With the native population no longer a threat, Florida became a state in 1845.
For more information on Florida culture and History, check out A Brief History – Florida Department of State (myflorida.com)
Florida Today
Today, you can travel throughout Florida and see signs of its history just about anywhere you go. The influences of so many cultures are hard to miss. Spanish influence is by far the easiest to find in places like St. Augustine, Miami, and Tampa. There are remnants of the old American southern plantations in the central peninsula and scattered throughout north Florida. Old forts like the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine emphasize the state’s strategic importance. Museums, state parks and landmarks preserve historic places, battles, and artifacts so they are not lost forever.
It’s not hard to find arrow heads and shards of pottery just by digging in your backyard. You can even visit any one of numerous villages where native American life continues the way it has for centuries. And now, Florida is undergoing change again.
Modern-day sea-level rise threatens places that have long since been freed from the confines of the sea. Florida’s future could easily return to a time that few can even imagine existed at all. There has never been a better time to see Florida for what it is, what it was, and what it can be.
