<P> This angered the British colonists . The British and their colonies made war repeatedly against the Spanish, especially in 1702 and again in 1740, when a large force under James Oglethorpe sailed south from Georgia and besieged St. Augustine but were unable to take the Castillo de San Marcos . Creek and Seminole Native Americans, who had established buffer settlements in Florida at the invitation of the Spanish government, also welcomed many of those slaves . In 1771, Governor John Moultrie wrote to the English Board of Trade that "It has been a practice for a good while past, for negroes to run away from their Masters, and get into the Indian towns, from whence it proved very difficult to get them back ." When British government officials pressed the Seminole to return runaway slaves, they replied that they had "merely given hungry people food, and invited the slaveholders to catch the runaways themselves ." </P> <P> In 1763, Spain traded Florida to the Kingdom of Great Britain for control of Havana, Cuba, which had been captured by the British during the Seven Years' War . It was part of a large expansion of British territory following the country's victory in the Seven Years' War . Almost the entire Spanish population left, taking along most of the remaining indigenous population to Cuba . The British divided the territory into East Florida and West Florida . The British soon constructed the King's Road connecting St. Augustine to Georgia . The road crossed the St. Johns River at a narrow point, which the Seminole called Wacca Pilatka and the British named "Cow Ford", both names ostensibly reflecting the fact that cattle were brought across the river there . The British government gave land grants to officers and soldiers who had fought in the French and Indian War in order to encourage settlement . In order to induce settlers to move to the two new colonies reports of the natural wealth of Florida were published in England . A large number of British colonists who were "energetic and of good character" moved to Florida, mostly coming from South Carolina, Georgia and England though there was also a group of settlers who came from the colony of Bermuda . This would be the first permanent English - speaking population in what is now Duval County, Baker County, St. Johns County and Nassau County . The British built good public roads and introduced the cultivation of sugar cane, indigo and fruits as well the export of lumber . As a result of these initiatives northeastern Florida prospered economically in a way it never did under Spanish rule . Furthermore, the British governors were directed to call general assemblies as soon as possible in order to make laws for the Floridas and in the meantime they were, with the advice of councils, to establish courts . This would be the first introduction of much of the English - derived legal system which Florida still has today including trial - by - jury, habeas corpus and county - based government . </P> <P> A Scottish settler named Dr Andrew Turnbull transplanted around 1,500 indentured settlers, from Menorca, Majorca, Ibiza, Smyrna, Crete, Mani Peninsula, and Sicily, to grow hemp, sugarcane, indigo, and to produce rum . Settled at New Smyrna, within months the colony suffered major losses primarily due to insect - borne diseases and Native American raids . Most crops did not do well in the sandy Florida soil . Those that survived rarely equaled the quality produced in other colonies . The colonists tired of their servitude and Turnbull's rule . On several occasions, he used African slaves to whip his unruly settlers . The settlement collapsed and the survivors fled to safety with the British authorities in St. Augustine . Their descendants survive to this day, as does the name New Smyrna . </P> <P> In 1767, the British moved the northern boundary of West Florida to a line extending from the mouth of the Yazoo River east to the Chattahoochee River (32 ° 28 ′ north latitude), consisting of approximately the lower third of the present states of Mississippi and Alabama . During this time, Creek Indians migrated into Florida and formed the Seminole tribe . </P>

Why was the land between virginia and florida not initially settled