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Beginning in the second half of the 16th century, the Kingdom of Spain established a number of missions throughout ''la Florida'' in order to convert the Indians to Christianity, to facilitate control of the area, and to prevent its colonization by other countries, in particular, England and France. Spanish Florida originally included much of what is now the Southeastern United States, although Spain never exercised long-term effective control over more than the northern part of what is now the State of Florida from present-day St. Augustine to the area around Tallahassee, southeastern Georgia, and some coastal settlements, such as Pensacola, Florida. A few short-lived missions were established in other locations, including Mission Santa Elena in present-day South Carolina, around the Florida peninsula, and in the interior of Georgia and Alabama. The missions of what are now northern Florida and southeastern Georgia were divided into main four provinces where the bulk of missionary effort took place. These were Apalachee, comprising the eastern part of what is now the Florida Panhandle; Timucua, ranging from the St. Johns River west to the Suwanee; Mocama, the coastal areas east of the St. Johns running north to the Altamaha River; and Guale, north of the Altamaha River along the coast to the present-day Georgia Sea Islands. These provinces roughly corresponded to the areas where those dialects were spoken among the varying Native American peoples, thus, they reflected the territories of the peoples. Missionary provinces were relatively fluid and evolved over the years according to demographic and political trends, and at various times smaller provinces were established, abandoned, or merged with larger ones. There were also ephemeral attempts to establish missions elsewhere, particularly further south into Florida. ==History== The priests and religious that traveled with the early conquistadors not withstanding, the 1549 expedition of Father Luis de Cancer and three other Dominicans to Tampa Bay was the first solely missionary effort attempted in ''la Florida''. It ended in failure after six weeks with de Cancer's brutal martyrdom at the hands of the Tocobaga natives, which sent shock waves through the Dominican missionary community in New Spain for many years. The first Spanish missions to the Indians of Florida, starting with the foundation of St. Augustine in 1565, were attached to presidios. Between 1565 and 1567 ten presidios were established at major harbors from Port Royal Sound to Tampa Bay to prevent other European powers from establishing bases in the area. Most of the presidios were unsustainable. San Mateo was destroyed by the French, the entire garrison at Tocobago was wiped out, and most of the other presidios were abandoned because of the hostility of the local Indians and the difficulty of providing supplies. By 1573 the only remaining presidios in Florida were St. Augustine and Santa Elena, and Santa Elena was abandoned (for a second time) in 1587. The missions at the presidios were staffed by the Jesuits. Due to the hostility of the Indians, which resulted in the murder of several of the missionaries, the Jesuits withdrew from the mission field in la Florida in 1572. Franciscan friars entered into la Florida in 1573, but at first confined their activities to the immediate vicinity of St. Augustine. The Franciscans began taking their mission to the Guale and Timucua Indians along the Atlantic coast in 1587. Starting in 1606 the Franciscans expanded their mission efforts westward across Timucua territory, and by 1633 had established missions in Apalachee Province. The mission system functioned throughout the 17th century, but collapsed at the beginning of the 18th century after raids by English soldiers from the Province of Carolina and their Indian allies had depopulated all provinces.〔McEwan. pp. xix-xx.〕 The network of missions took its heaviest blow with Carolina Governor James Moore's raids into the area during Queen Anne's War. Most of the Spanish missions in the Apalachee Province were wiped out during the Apalachee massacre. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Spanish missions in Florida」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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