Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • A historical region of the southeast United States extending west from the Florida Panhandle to the Mississippi River. In 1810, US settlers overthrew the Spanish colonial government at Baton Rouge and established the short-lived Republic of West Florida, which was annexed by the United States three months later.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • In the 18th century it was known as East Florida; the lands along the coast, from southern Alabama to the Mississippi River, were called West Florida.

    When the Bayou Broke Away Stuart Ferguson 2011

  • Two points must be kept in mind: first, that during the war our ally, Spain, had conquered from England that portion of the Gulf coast known as West Florida; and second, that when the treaty was made the United States and Great Britain mutually covenanted to do certain things, some of which were never done.

    The Winning of the West, Volume 2 From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1777-1783 Theodore Roosevelt 1888

  • [233] It may be said here in passing, that the key to the English possessions in what was then called West Florida was at Pensacola and

    The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 1877

  • By the treaty of 1783 Great Britain had acknowledged the thirty-first parallel to be the southwestern boundary of the American republic; but in another article England relinquished to Spain her title to West Florida—defined at 32° 28’, that point more than a hundred miles farther north where the Yazoo River joined the Mississippi.

    Washington Richard Harwell 1968

  • By the treaty of 1783 Great Britain had acknowledged the thirty-first parallel to be the southwestern boundary of the American republic; but in another article England relinquished to Spain her title to West Florida—defined at 32° 28’, that point more than a hundred miles farther north where the Yazoo River joined the Mississippi.

    Washington Richard Harwell 1968

  • By the treaty of 1783 Great Britain had acknowledged the thirty-first parallel to be the southwestern boundary of the American republic; but in another article England relinquished to Spain her title to West Florida—defined at 32° 28’, that point more than a hundred miles farther north where the Yazoo River joined the Mississippi.

    Washington Richard Harwell 1968

  • By the treaty of 1783 Great Britain had acknowledged the thirty-first parallel to be the southwestern boundary of the American republic; but in another article England relinquished to Spain her title to West Florida—defined at 32° 28’, that point more than a hundred miles farther north where the Yazoo River joined the Mississippi.

    Washington Richard Harwell 1968

  • With rivers flowing into it from the north, and with its access to the Caribbean, West Florida was coveted by competing nations for its trading advantages.

    When the Bayou Broke Away Stuart Ferguson 2011

  • The U.S. thought that West Florida was included in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

    When the Bayou Broke Away Stuart Ferguson 2011

  • Still, the confrontations with the Spanish helped fuel six years of turbulence in West Florida, culminating in the capture of Fort San Carlos on Sept. 22, 1810, as 75 rebels shouting Hurrah!

    When the Bayou Broke Away Stuart Ferguson 2011

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