12,000 years ago (10,000 B.C.E.) – Native Americans occupy Florida
16th Century – Africans arrive with Spaniards
1513 – Juan Ponce de León lands on East Coast
1521 – Juan Ponce de León returns and is mortally wounded on Florida’s SW Coast
1528 – Pánfilo de Narváez expedition
1539 – 1543 – Hernando de Soto expedition
1539 – 1540 – Francisco Maldonado
1559 – Tristán de Luna
1562 – Jean Ribault – Jacksonville and Beaufort, SC
1564 – Rene de Laudonnière – Ft. Caroline
1565 – Pedro Menéndez – St. Augustine
1573 – Spanish Missions
1587 – Roanoke (Lost Colony). VA
1607 – Jamestown, VA
1620 – Plymouth (Pilgrims), MASS
1630 – Massachusetts Bay (Puritans)
1687 – The first runaway slaves from northern plantations are granted asylum in St. Augustine.
1698 – Spaniards re-establish Pensacola
1738 – Fort Mosè
1763 – Florida to Britain
1783 – Florida to Spain
1818 – First Seminole War
1821 – Florida as United States Territory
March 3, 1845 – Florida becomes a State