CHAPTER


XIIL0


RETROSPECTIVE-AN HISTORICAL SKETCH.


THE discovery of Florida carries us back almost to the


middle


ages,


and its first permanent settlement antedates


that of Jamestown by forty-two years and that of Plym-


outh by fifty-five years.


No other portion of the North


American Continent has had so long and so varied a his-
tory; and for this reason it will be impossible for me to do


more here than give a rapid
principal events.*


outline or summary of the


 According to some authorities, Sebastian Cabot visited
the coast of Florida in 1497, only five years after the dis-


cover of America by Columbus


but this is very daubt-


ful, and the received opinion among geographers is that


Cape


Hatteras was the southern limit of Cabot's voyage.


The actual discovery of Florida is generally credited to
Ponce de Leon, who, after subjugating the Island of Porto
Rico, set out in search of a certain Fountain of Youth
which was at first said to be located on the Island of Bi-
mini, and then, not being found there, on another island


farther away to the northwest.


He left Porto Rico early


in 1512, and on the 27th of March reached


the coast of


Florida at a point a little north of the present site of St.


Augustine.


It was Easter-Sunday (called Pascua Florida


in Spanish) when he made land, and partly on this account,
 It need hardly be said that the chief authority for this chapter is the


excellent History of Florida
Lippincotts, of Philadelphia.


by George


R. Fairbanks, published by the