Amelia Island

Posts Tagged ‘Amelia Island history’

The first Spanish reign was from 1565 to 1763 and they set up the mission of Santa Maria on the northern end of Amelia Island in what is now known as Old Town in order to convert the Indians to Christianity. In fact the island became known as “Isla de Santa Maria.” From this point on the Timucuan numbers started to decline because of the influx of European disease and the stresses due to the disruption of their lifestyle. Though their numbers were once about 30,000 they were almost completely extinct within about 100 years of their first contact with the Europeans.

Continue this article for the Spanish-British period Here

The British settlements in the North soon took a keen interest in the area because of the naturally deep ports and the strategic trade route location. The island was named Amelia by Georgia’s governor James Oglethorpe in 1735 in honor of Princess Amelia, daughter of King George II. Though the Island was named Amelia by the British, it did not fall into British hands until Spanish Florida was traded for British Cuba in 1763 as a result of the Treaty of Paris. During the time of British rule which lasted until 1783, the island was known as Egmont. Read the rest of this entry »

A Scottishman named Sir Gregor MacGregor with the support of some key Americans ran the Spanish off Amelia island in 1817 and later raised the “Green Cross of Florida” flag. However, because of lack of reinforcements and funds he left and his lieutenants became in charge. They made a deal with Frenchman Luis Aury (a soldier in the Mexican Revolution) in order to get support to maintain their control. However, Aury, in return for giving them support wanted to command the island and so raised the Mexican flag. The town came into such a state of bedlam that the U.S. government sent gunboats and took control and held Amelia Island in trust for Spain until Florida became a U.S. territory on July 10, 1821. Read the rest of this entry »