Before being riddled with theme parks, retirement homes, nightclubs and some rather questionable political sides, Florida was and still is home to the Seminole, the Apalachee, the Calusa, the Creek, the Ai, the Miccosukee, the Timucua and the Yemassee. These groups are the Native American tribes indigenous to Florida which means that they were the people who were on the land first. In the early 1500s, their lives were flipped upside down by colonialism.

In April 1513, a Spaniard named Juan Ponce de Leon landed on the east Floridian coast and claimed the land for Spain. Ponce is responsible for giving Florida its name as he stole the land at Easter Time and in Spain and Spanish cultures, Easter is called Pascua Florida (feast of flowers or flowery festival) and also because of the lush and florid vegetation the land had and still has. So what do we know of in terms of Ponce's foray in Florida?
Well, he explored the coast, "discovered" the Gulf Stream that would help with Spanish ships journey back to Spain from the "New World". Ponce had been encouraged by Spain to look for new lands and decided to try and find the fabled Fountain of Youth that would restore the youth of those who drink from it.
Well, the Natives were not happy with Ponce's trek around a peninsula that he thought was an island so when Ponce returned in February 1521, the Natives attacked and mortally wounded him. Before going after Florida, Ponce De Leon had successfully colonialised and built settlements on the island of Hispaniola where Haiti and the Dominican Republic are, took gold from Puerto Rico and also became governor of Puerto Rico as well.
The story wasn't over as in 1539 and 1559 there were further Spanish interventions but in 1565, the first Spanish period began with the founding of St Augustine by Pedro Menéndez who he named after St Augustine (of Hippo), the patron saint of brewers, theologians and printers whose feast day fell on 28 August, the day St Augustine was found it. A thanksgiving mass was held (this predated the iconic Jamestown Thanksgiving of 1621). Like all indigenous areas taken over by European settlers, diseases, land stealing and genocide took its toll on the indigenous population in Florida. From 1763 until 1783, the British took control of Florida which only lasted 2 decades and saw the peninsula being divided into two sides for management conveniences but in the early 1780s, Spain started reclaiming the land in the midst of the American War of Independence. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 saw Florida fully fall under Spanish rule again.
Eventually, the Spanish couldn't afford to send settlers or garrisons to Florida which had become a burden to the Spanish Empire so to avoid financial ruin before the Scramble for Africa, Spain decided Florida would become American territory in exchange for settling a dispute along the Sabine River which was a boundary in Spanish Texas. Florida became part of the US in 1821 and gained statehood in 1845 as the 27th US State.