"Life in Florida 200 years before the Epcot Center was a complex and painful story of speculation and exploitation, of high hopes and bitter realities. This very southern story has remained unknown to most Americans for too long. Now a diligent group of Florida historians is mining late 18th-century sources to uncover a forgotten world of English and Spanish, Minorcans and Greeks, Ibos and Fulani, Creeks and Seminoles. This timely volume brings together some of their best and most recent work, offering a varied, coherent, and detailed introduction to the work-in-progress that is early Florida history during the crucial period long after De León and De Soto and shortly before Jackson and Osceola."--Peter H. Wood, Duke University This illustrated collection documents the rich history of Florida's earliest indigo, rice, and cotton plantations, cattle ranches, timbering operations, and Atlantic commercial networks. Based on primary research in archives in England, Scotland, Spain, Cuba, Minorca, and Florida as well as upon archaeological investigations, the essays trace for the first time the relationship of Florida to both the Caribbean and the Atlantic economies and document Florida's national and international significance in the colonial period. Contents Introduction, by Jane G. Landers 1. "A Swamp of an Investment"? Richard Oswald's British East Florida Plantation Experiment, by Daniel L. Schafer 2. Blue Gold: Andrew Turnbull's New Smyrna Plantation, by Patricia C. Griffin 3. Success through Diversification: Francis Philip Fatio's New Switzerland Plantation, by Susan R. Parker 4. Francisco Xavier Sánchez, Floridano Planter and Merchant, by Jane G. Landers 5. Zephaniah Kingsley's Laurel Grove Plantation, 1803-1813, by Daniel L. Schafer 6. Free Black Plantations and Economy in East Florida, 1784-1821, by Jane G. Landers 7. The Plantation System of the Florida Seminole Indians and Black Seminoles during the Colonial Era, by Brent R. Weisman 8. The Cattle Trade in East Florida, 1784-1821, by Susan R. Parker 9. Spanish East Florida in the Atlantic Economy of the Late 18th Century, by James Gregory Cusick Jane G. Landers, associate professor of history at Vanderbilt University, is author of Black Society in Spanish Florida, editor of Free Blacks in the Slave Societies of the Americas, and coeditor of The African American Heritage of Florida (UPF, 1995).

In this pioneering book Daniel Usner examines the economic and cultural interactions among the Indians, Europeans, and African slaves of colonial Louisiana, including the province of West Florida. Rather than focusing on a single cultural group or on a particular economic activity, this study traces the complex social linkages among Indian villages, colonial plantations, hunting camps, military outposts, and port towns across a large region of pre-cotton South. Usner begins by providing a chronological overview of events from French settlement of the area in 1699 to Spanish acquisition of West Florida after the Revolution. He then shows how early confrontations and transactions shaped the formation of Louisiana into a distinct colonial region with a social system based on mutual needs of subsistence. Usner's focus on commerce allows him to illuminate the motives in the contest for empire among the French, English, and Spanish, as well as to trace the personal networks of communication and exchange that existed among the territory's inhabitants. By revealing the economic and social world of early Louisianians, he lays the groundwork for a better understanding of later Southern society.

Florida Book Awards, Bronze Medal for General Nonfiction International Latino Book Awards, First Place, Best History Book (English) Scholarly and popular attention tends to focus heavily on Cuba’s recent history. Key to the New World is the first comprehensive history of early colonial Cuba written in English, and fills the gap in our knowledge of the island before 1700.

The books in the Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series demonstrate the University Press of Florida’s long history of publishing Latin American and Caribbean studies titles that connect in and through Florida, highlighting the connections between the Sunshine State and its neighboring islands. Books in this series show how early explorers found and settled Florida and the Caribbean. They tell the tales of early pioneers, both foreign and domestic. They examine topics critical to the area such as travel, migration, economic opportunity, and tourism. They look at the growth of Florida and the Caribbean and the attendant pressures on the environment, culture, urban development, and the movement of peoples, both forced and voluntary. The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series gathers the rich data available in these architectural, archaeological, cultural, and historical works, as well as the travelogues and naturalists’ sketches of the area in prior to the twentieth century, making it accessible for scholars and the general public alike. The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, under the Humanities Open Books program.

The books in the Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series demonstrate the University Press of Florida's long history of publishing Latin American and Caribbean studies titles that connect in and through Florida, highlighting the connections between the Sunshine State and its neighboring islands. Books in this series show how early explorers found and settled Florida and the Caribbean. They tell the tales of early pioneers, both foreign and domestic. They examine topics critical to the area such as travel, migration, economic opportunity, and tourism. They look at the growth of Florida and the Caribbean and the attendant pressures on the environment, culture, urban development, and the movement of peoples, both forced and voluntary. The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series gathers the rich data available in these architectural, archaeological, cultural, and historical works, as well as the travelogues and naturalists' sketches of the area in prior to the twentieth century, making it accessible for scholars and the general public alike. The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, under the Humanities Open Books program.

In recent years, scholars in a number of disciplines have focused their attention on understanding the early American economy. This text enters the resurgent discussion by showcasing the work of leading scholars who represent a spectrum of historiographical and methodological viewpoints.

In examining how the United States gained control over the northern borderlands of Spanish America, this text reassesses the diplomacy of President James Madison. The author also describes how a myriad cast of local leaders, officials and other small players affected the borderlands diplomacy between the United States and Spain.