Journal of Transnational American Studies

This essay analyzes the entangled histories of France and Spain in Florida and the circum-Atlantic and is based on little-utilized primary sources from Spain, Florida, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. The French and the Spaniards crossed paths, often violently, through war, piracy and revolutions, from the period when the French contested the Spanish territorial claims in the New World in the 16th century to the late 18th century when the French through Genêt, tried to revolutionize Florida. It also explores the impact of black royalists like Georges and French revolutionary leaders from Saint-Domingue in Florida. Biassou and his men fought for Spain in Florida, battling Georgia Patriots and risen Seminoles, while Luis Aury, established a short-lived Republic of the Floridas at Fernandina.