Florida’s Frontiers

Abstract

Paul Hoffman’s latest book is a classic, soundly researched study of five Florida frontiers: tidewater, inland, military, new tidewater (English), and American. His purpose is to “tell the story of Florida’s multiple frontiers and how they were shaped by natural facts and human actors during the nearly three centuries from 1565 to 1860” (p. xv). The clearly written narrative covers nearly three centuries, from Spanish colonization in 1565 up through 1860, when population density, contracts for survey and township division of the peninsula, and the end of the “wilderness” and Indian removal in Florida marked the close of Florida’s frontiers.The thoroughness of Hoffman’s research is obvious in the text, extensive chapter notes, and classified bibliography. While Hoffnan states that “a work of this scope is necessarily built upon the labors of others” (p. xv), this reviewer disagrees with such a modest disclaimer. Most of the first seven chapters reveal the author’s meticulous research in documents of the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, as well as other Spanish archives. The last four chapters, largely derived from Hoffman’s use of other documents, along with his extensive knowledge of secondary works, add to the overall reliability of the book because of his emphasis upon primary sources throughout.All chapters are full of useful information on a variety of topics, including geographical features of the land, Native Americans, settlements and population, economy and products, European and American relations with Native Americans, the expansion of frontiers, Franciscan policies and missionary activities, and military defenses and warfare. Hoffman interweaves discussion of these topics with the course of events in Europe and the United States. Although some of the events, developments, and personalities may be familiar, there are many new contributions as well. One of these is Hoffman’s portrayal of the concept of “paramountcy” (p. 89), wherein Native American caciques sought decisions by Spanish governors and Franciscans to resolve their conflicts over chieftainship through the confirmation of their supremacy in rank, power, and authority. Elsewhere, the author notes that Spanish governor Domingo Martínez de Avendaño, during his inspection of Franciscan missions in 1595, imposed an annual tribute of one arroba (25 pounds) of shelled maize on each married male Indian. Hoffman then observes that Avendaño’s act “was a revolution in Spanish-Indian relations” (p. 79), while at the same time helping to relieve St. Augustine’s shortage of food. By 1763, when Great Britain assumed the administration of Florida, Hoffman observes understandably that “Spain’s La Florida was little more than what it had been in 1565, a garrison precariously perched on a sand spit by the Atlantic Ocean” (p. 206). Concerning the political acquisition of Florida in 1821, the author notes perceptively that “East Florida was economically and demographically part of the United States by 1821” (p. 282).This contribution to the historiography of Florida provides serious and reliable reading for amateur historians and scholars interested in the United States, Florida and its frontiers, and the Spanish borderlands. Hoffman certainly achieves his goals in this innovative approach to the long history of Florida’s five diversified frontiers.