"Networks of Diplomacy and Trade in the Contested Florida Borderlands"

Abstract

"Networks of Diplomacy and Trade in the Contested Florida Borderlands" Diana ReigelspergeriD When Cuban engineer Antonio de Arredondo debarked from his ship and set foot on the docks in St. Augustine in August of 1736, he might have been surprised by the three British ships he likely noticed in port.1 Unlicensed trade with British ships was illegal in the Spanish colonies, although smuggling and contraband trade were common. The city of St. Augustine, the capital of Spanish Florida, was isolated from regular Spanish commercial traffic and had long relied on illicit trade to fill the gap when supplies ran short. Nevertheless, the openness of these operations might have caught Arredondo's attention. If the large number of foreign ships did not surprise him, then the stores openly selling British goods and British citizens wandering the city certainly would have. Spanish authorities in Florida were in the midst of tense negotiations with the British over the settlement of Georgia, the colony recently established to the north. Arredondo had been sent by the governor of Cuba to order the governor of Georgia, James Oglethorpe, to withdraw from Georgia completely. He was also there to survey the Florida fortifications in case the conflict devolved into war, and he might have found it alarming that British visitors could easily explore the city and do the same. Or perhaps he was not surprised at all. Arredondo had also been given a secret directive to investigate the administration of Florida's governor, Francisco del Moral y Sánchez, for openly violating trade laws, mismanaging religious affairs, and imprisoning anyone who opposed him.2 Governor Moral y Sánchez had assumed leadership in Florida in 1734, in the midst of a decade shaped by border conflicts. Spanish maps had once claimed most of the eastern seaboard as "La Florida", but these claims had been dramatically reduced by encroaching English settlement over the years. This circumscription of Spanish territory culminated in 1713 with the end of the War of Spanish Succession. British invasions had reduced effective Spanish control to the capital at St. Augustine and its immediate surroundings. In the subsequent years, royal authorities labored to repopulate the colony and fortify it against European rivals and their indigenous allies, though with limited success.3 In 1733, the establishment of Georgia added a new facet to the Anglo-Spanish conflict over territory in the Southeast. British settlers and soldiers were closer than ever before. [End Page 511] British agents expanded their trade networks with the native chiefdoms of the region, undermining the Spanish sphere of influence.4 Yet even as the contest for territorial control developed, St. Augustine also became enmeshed in the rapidly growing trans-imperial economy that connected so many parts of the Atlantic world. Both legal and illicit trade expanded.5 Despite trade regulations, this commerce became central to the economic success (and sometimes survival) of colonies with limited resources like Florida and Georgia. By the middle of the eighteenth century, Florida routinely relied on British trade goods. Such trade was also beneficial to larger colonies like South Carolina that enjoyed having local export markets.6 Had Arredondo seen four, five, or even six ships in the harbor, it might have been a typical day. The presence of many foreign ships in colonial Florida has long been recognized by historians.7 In the surviving records of maritime traffic, the names of ships and ship captains change frequently, giving the impression of a diversity of traders in the customs and naval logs. Records of ship owners, however, reveal that the bulk of the city's commerce was influenced by a small handful of merchants. Each of these merchants operated multiple ships that travelled all over the eastern seaboard and the Caribbean, making regular stops in St. Augustine. The unusual administration of Governor Moral y Sánchez enabled them to gain a foothold within the Spanish community itself by setting up resident agents and permanent stores. As a result, some of them became enmeshed in the political and commercial landscape of the colony. In the case of the Florida-Georgia border negotiations, commercial networks facilitated diplomatic relations. As the Spanish and British moved closer to war...