Land of Many Cultures
Dozens of distinct groups of Indigenous peoples lived in Florida when Europeans first arrived in the early sixteenth century.
In 1565, Spaniards established a permanent presence in La Florida when they founded St. Augustine. By 1821, the end of the colonial era, Florida—then home to Native, White, and Black residents—had been transformed. Florida was changed forever.
Illustration of a Timucuan woman
by John White, ca. 1585–93
© Trustees of the British Museum
