Why did Spain give Florida away for free (Short Animated Documentary)
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Date: 2025-02-15
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Comments and reviews: 20
nobodynobody3112
You're an excellent speaker and generally it seems like you do a good job summarizing historical events. A lot of the history you cover isn't discussed or is manipulated today for political reasons, so it's good that it usually seems like your intent is educate instead of manipulate. However, when it comes to your US coverage it seems like you're biased towards certain political sentiment. Something that wasn't mentioned here was the Seminole Indian tribes and other settlers there allying with Britain against the US during the war of 1812, raids into territory on both sides since then, and the deaths of Americans in surprise attacks that started the Seminole Wars (leading to Spain ceding Florida to the USA, similar to how Pearl Harbor started US participation in WWII.
It must be a very difficult challenge to try and condense so much of history into such short time frames, so it's understandable that not everything can be included. But since lying by omission or manipulating the narrative by leaving out information or context is one of the most prevalent ways history is manipulated today by malicious actors it seems important to call it out, especially for content creators that generally have such high standards like yourself.
In other words, I won't pretend the American Revolution was a glorious fight for freedom against evil perfidious Brits if you don't pretend those bloody yanks are always doing evil things for no reason!
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You're an excellent speaker and generally it seems like you do a good job summarizing historical events. A lot of the history you cover isn't discussed or is manipulated today for political reasons, so it's good that it usually seems like your intent is educate instead of manipulate. However, when it comes to your US coverage it seems like you're biased towards certain political sentiment. Something that wasn't mentioned here was the Seminole Indian tribes and other settlers there allying with Britain against the US during the war of 1812, raids into territory on both sides since then, and the deaths of Americans in surprise attacks that started the Seminole Wars (leading to Spain ceding Florida to the USA, similar to how Pearl Harbor started US participation in WWII.
It must be a very difficult challenge to try and condense so much of history into such short time frames, so it's understandable that not everything can be included. But since lying by omission or manipulating the narrative by leaving out information or context is one of the most prevalent ways history is manipulated today by malicious actors it seems important to call it out, especially for content creators that generally have such high standards like yourself.
In other words, I won't pretend the American Revolution was a glorious fight for freedom against evil perfidious Brits if you don't pretend those bloody yanks are always doing evil things for no reason!
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AttilatheNun-xv6kc
Some background here would be useful.
The Brits gained control of Florida after the Seven Years' War in 1763. They got it by exchanging recently captured Havana, Cuba with Spain. The Spanish wanted to regain Havana a lot more than they wanted to keep Florida, which was underdeveloped and populated mainly by native Americans and by runaway slaves from Georgia and South Carolina.
The Brits divided the new colony into East Florida (most of the peninsula) and West Florida (the panhandle stretching somewhat further than it does now.
During the Revolution both Floridas remained loyal. The colonists included people from Bermuda, Georgia and the Carolinas, but most were recently transplanted Brits who were grateful for their land grants. And the Stamp Act and other such grievances had barely affected them. They rejected invitations to join the Continental Congress and burned effigies of Revolutionary leaders like George Washington.
They expected to remain part of the British Empire for good. But they received a rude shock in 1783 when the Brits had to return both Floridas to Spain after losing the Revolutionary War, in which Spain was a co-belligerent with the United States, France and the Netherlands. Most of the settlers relocated to the Bahamas and elsewhere. Only a few stayed on, even though their new rulers required them to learn Spanish and convert to Roman Catholicism.
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Some background here would be useful.
The Brits gained control of Florida after the Seven Years' War in 1763. They got it by exchanging recently captured Havana, Cuba with Spain. The Spanish wanted to regain Havana a lot more than they wanted to keep Florida, which was underdeveloped and populated mainly by native Americans and by runaway slaves from Georgia and South Carolina.
The Brits divided the new colony into East Florida (most of the peninsula) and West Florida (the panhandle stretching somewhat further than it does now.
During the Revolution both Floridas remained loyal. The colonists included people from Bermuda, Georgia and the Carolinas, but most were recently transplanted Brits who were grateful for their land grants. And the Stamp Act and other such grievances had barely affected them. They rejected invitations to join the Continental Congress and burned effigies of Revolutionary leaders like George Washington.
They expected to remain part of the British Empire for good. But they received a rude shock in 1783 when the Brits had to return both Floridas to Spain after losing the Revolutionary War, in which Spain was a co-belligerent with the United States, France and the Netherlands. Most of the settlers relocated to the Bahamas and elsewhere. Only a few stayed on, even though their new rulers required them to learn Spanish and convert to Roman Catholicism.
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education
Spain lost more by helping decisively in the independence of the United States (it provided most of the fleet, the blockade of the routes to America, most of the logistics, the amphibious operations in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, than it gained later with its intervention. The only difference is that they recovered Menorca, because Florida as seen here would end up in the hands of others anyway (from the English to the Americans) and that would bring more losses in the long run.
Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines are worth more than Florida at that time, but the United States has shown an irrational hatred towards its Hispanic neighbors, to the point of betraying them twice (pressing to take Florida and then the rest. I'm still waiting for them to use the Monroe Doctrine to kick the British, Dutch and French out of what's left of their American colonies. Saying that America is for Americans is hypocritical, as there are still colonies here (for example, helping the British in the Falklands, when Argentina was only trying to contribute to the Monroe Doctrine itself.
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Spain lost more by helping decisively in the independence of the United States (it provided most of the fleet, the blockade of the routes to America, most of the logistics, the amphibious operations in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, than it gained later with its intervention. The only difference is that they recovered Menorca, because Florida as seen here would end up in the hands of others anyway (from the English to the Americans) and that would bring more losses in the long run.
Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines are worth more than Florida at that time, but the United States has shown an irrational hatred towards its Hispanic neighbors, to the point of betraying them twice (pressing to take Florida and then the rest. I'm still waiting for them to use the Monroe Doctrine to kick the British, Dutch and French out of what's left of their American colonies. Saying that America is for Americans is hypocritical, as there are still colonies here (for example, helping the British in the Falklands, when Argentina was only trying to contribute to the Monroe Doctrine itself.
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Gloriaimperial1
There are 3 reasons why Spain sold Florida to the USA in 1821
1. The war against Napoleon in Spain 1808-1814, caused half a million Spanish dead (270, 000 French soldiers dead, collapse of 80% of the Spanish economy, destruction of cities, industry, fleet in port (due to lack of maintenance during the war) destruction of agriculture and livestock.
2. We were at war in Spanish America between 1810-1825. UK lost all 13 colonies in 7 years of war, in a territory of 2 million km2. Imagine Spain, with 80% of its economy destroyed and half a million dead, fighting in a territory of 15 million km2, with 6000 meter high mountain ranges, deep valleys, jungles and tropical diseases and deserts, a brutal war. It's like a double apocalypse.
Even so we almost managed to recover America.
3. But the liberal revolution of 1820 broke out in Spain, and the revolutionaries themselves had stopped sending troops to Spanish America. So they were even less willing to send troops to Florida when we were still at war in Spanish America.
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There are 3 reasons why Spain sold Florida to the USA in 1821
1. The war against Napoleon in Spain 1808-1814, caused half a million Spanish dead (270, 000 French soldiers dead, collapse of 80% of the Spanish economy, destruction of cities, industry, fleet in port (due to lack of maintenance during the war) destruction of agriculture and livestock.
2. We were at war in Spanish America between 1810-1825. UK lost all 13 colonies in 7 years of war, in a territory of 2 million km2. Imagine Spain, with 80% of its economy destroyed and half a million dead, fighting in a territory of 15 million km2, with 6000 meter high mountain ranges, deep valleys, jungles and tropical diseases and deserts, a brutal war. It's like a double apocalypse.
Even so we almost managed to recover America.
3. But the liberal revolution of 1820 broke out in Spain, and the revolutionaries themselves had stopped sending troops to Spanish America. So they were even less willing to send troops to Florida when we were still at war in Spanish America.
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jimevert7099
Couple things. First of all there were 5 million in court claims against the Spanish government for Indian raids. The US agreed to pay those off as part of the treaty.
Second thing is Florida used to go all the way to the Mississippi River and we had annex three parts of it once in 1810 given to the Louisiana the North shore. In 1813 we took the Mississippi part 1816 we took the Mobile Bay Park. Which was part of West Florida in the capital was at Mobile. After Andrew Jackson had invaded Florida as part of the first Seminole war and occupied Pensacola with an American flag over it. And incidentally tried to start a war with Britain by trying and executing two British citizens there, Spain didn't have much of a choice but to sell out.
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Couple things. First of all there were 5 million in court claims against the Spanish government for Indian raids. The US agreed to pay those off as part of the treaty.
Second thing is Florida used to go all the way to the Mississippi River and we had annex three parts of it once in 1810 given to the Louisiana the North shore. In 1813 we took the Mississippi part 1816 we took the Mobile Bay Park. Which was part of West Florida in the capital was at Mobile. After Andrew Jackson had invaded Florida as part of the first Seminole war and occupied Pensacola with an American flag over it. And incidentally tried to start a war with Britain by trying and executing two British citizens there, Spain didn't have much of a choice but to sell out.
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elpellejr. 8239
Gringos gave a terrible treatment to spain for no reason. Spain helped them in their independence same as France with spanish General Bernando de Galvez during the govermment of the king Charles III. During that time spain not only supported military to USA but gave them a lot of economical support which they never gave back, not only that but usa then stole florida, brought the rest of midwest states cheap, then stole the rest of the north west states and in the end they would stole half of what became the first mexican empire after their independence with Agustin de Iturbide. And the rest of what they did to hispanic america it was terrible, unfair and cruel
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Gringos gave a terrible treatment to spain for no reason. Spain helped them in their independence same as France with spanish General Bernando de Galvez during the govermment of the king Charles III. During that time spain not only supported military to USA but gave them a lot of economical support which they never gave back, not only that but usa then stole florida, brought the rest of midwest states cheap, then stole the rest of the north west states and in the end they would stole half of what became the first mexican empire after their independence with Agustin de Iturbide. And the rest of what they did to hispanic america it was terrible, unfair and cruel
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jtlandrum
Spain didn't give away Florida for nothing. They received $5 million from the U. S. (liabilities for damages caused in the rebellion you mention) and concessions on land. Certainly in the long term it was a bad deal for Spain, but as you point out in the video, they were trying (unsuccessfully) to hang on to the more valuable parts of the empire. But when you compare what the U. S. spent for the Louisiana Purchase $15 million, versus Florida, $5 million, Spain got more for it (based on how much land was involved) than France did for Louisiana.
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Spain didn't give away Florida for nothing. They received $5 million from the U. S. (liabilities for damages caused in the rebellion you mention) and concessions on land. Certainly in the long term it was a bad deal for Spain, but as you point out in the video, they were trying (unsuccessfully) to hang on to the more valuable parts of the empire. But when you compare what the U. S. spent for the Louisiana Purchase $15 million, versus Florida, $5 million, Spain got more for it (based on how much land was involved) than France did for Louisiana.
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andresgonzalez3424
There was also a crazy story about this. Simon Bolivar ordered a scotch Gregor Mc Gregor to conquer Florida. He did so. But also he over exceeded his orders. Mc Gregor declared Florida a country, made a flag, minted coin and declared himself president, and when the US invaded he was alone. So Spain preferred to lose Florida to the US than lose it to Scotland or Venezuela
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There was also a crazy story about this. Simon Bolivar ordered a scotch Gregor Mc Gregor to conquer Florida. He did so. But also he over exceeded his orders. Mc Gregor declared Florida a country, made a flag, minted coin and declared himself president, and when the US invaded he was alone. So Spain preferred to lose Florida to the US than lose it to Scotland or Venezuela
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krisstarring
That would have been an interesting alternate history: Mexican Florida. What if Mexico, as the successor to New Spain, did stake a claim on Florida
Florida though was part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, not part of any of New Spain's CGs in modern day Mexico and had more political ties to Havana than Mexico City.
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That would have been an interesting alternate history: Mexican Florida. What if Mexico, as the successor to New Spain, did stake a claim on Florida
Florida though was part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, not part of any of New Spain's CGs in modern day Mexico and had more political ties to Havana than Mexico City.
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Jsmith2024
Excellent video.
(1) To be honest, Florida was just gators and swamps back then so it wasn't worth much. The Spanish never really developed it.
(2) America taking Florida gave us a coastline on the Gulf of America and some marvelous beaches! Thanks Spain!
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Excellent video.
(1) To be honest, Florida was just gators and swamps back then so it wasn't worth much. The Spanish never really developed it.
(2) America taking Florida gave us a coastline on the Gulf of America and some marvelous beaches! Thanks Spain!
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JosePerez-vz1qq
Florida was also a major refuge for enslaved Africans who escaped bondage especially from Georgia and the Carolinas. The first Seminole war was more of a series of kidnapping raids that targeted Maroons and their free children and grandchildren.
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Florida was also a major refuge for enslaved Africans who escaped bondage especially from Georgia and the Carolinas. The first Seminole war was more of a series of kidnapping raids that targeted Maroons and their free children and grandchildren.
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EmpiresGenerals
It’s fascinating how Spain decided to trade Florida for stability elsewhere. It really shows how strategic priorities shift over time. Do you think the deal was a smart move for Spain, or could they have leveraged Florida for something greater
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It’s fascinating how Spain decided to trade Florida for stability elsewhere. It really shows how strategic priorities shift over time. Do you think the deal was a smart move for Spain, or could they have leveraged Florida for something greater
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saulchapnick1566
Have you ever lived in Florida It’s the armpit of America, just like it was the bane of Spain’s existence. A big swamp.
Andrew Jackson’s homicidal hatred of the Seminole was spurred by the acquisition.
Ask Kelley Moneymaker
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Have you ever lived in Florida It’s the armpit of America, just like it was the bane of Spain’s existence. A big swamp.
Andrew Jackson’s homicidal hatred of the Seminole was spurred by the acquisition.
Ask Kelley Moneymaker
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2ndavenuesw481
Florida stayed loyal - no mention of the Spanish capture of West Florida. You make it sound as though Spain was simply given Florida in the treaty and had done nothing to win it through force of arms. Never trust any sort of British accent.
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Florida stayed loyal - no mention of the Spanish capture of West Florida. You make it sound as though Spain was simply given Florida in the treaty and had done nothing to win it through force of arms. Never trust any sort of British accent.
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uingaeoc3905
Oh yeah. The US bought Florida for nothing. Yet it could have had the Louisiana Territory for nothing as well, if they had simply allied with the British. instead, Jefferson paid Napoleon enough money to restart his aggression in Europe.
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Oh yeah. The US bought Florida for nothing. Yet it could have had the Louisiana Territory for nothing as well, if they had simply allied with the British. instead, Jefferson paid Napoleon enough money to restart his aggression in Europe.
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history_matters
Florida’s history is a fascinating mix of European rivalries, diplomacy, and shifting priorities. Spain had an empire to manage, and sometimes, holding onto everything just wasn’t worth the trouble.
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Florida’s history is a fascinating mix of European rivalries, diplomacy, and shifting priorities. Spain had an empire to manage, and sometimes, holding onto everything just wasn’t worth the trouble.
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kalyka98
TLDR They would have lost it anyway and decided to give it up. This changed almost nothing as the US continued to take land even after as proof that the spanish and the mexicans were not able to defend it
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TLDR They would have lost it anyway and decided to give it up. This changed almost nothing as the US continued to take land even after as proof that the spanish and the mexicans were not able to defend it
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exercisethemind
Out of all the empires, the Spanish were the least bad. Why do the most ruthless nihilistic monsters always win in the end It's really turning the world into a miserable place.
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Out of all the empires, the Spanish were the least bad. Why do the most ruthless nihilistic monsters always win in the end It's really turning the world into a miserable place.
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Blaqjaqshellaq
You'd think the Americans would have paid a token $1 price or something.
The Florida town of St. Augustine has been in Spanish territory longer than it's been in the USA!
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You'd think the Americans would have paid a token $1 price or something.
The Florida town of St. Augustine has been in Spanish territory longer than it's been in the USA!
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history_matters
1: 38 I guess we're in one of those moods again. We could use an intervention, and by that, I mean receiving one from other countries for the first time in American history
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1: 38 I guess we're in one of those moods again. We could use an intervention, and by that, I mean receiving one from other countries for the first time in American history
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