You may know that a quest for the Fountain of Youth led Ponce de Leon to claim Florida for Spain in 1513. But did you know that it took the founding of a settlement by French Protestants to spur Spain to take colonization seriously? Readers follow all the action as French forces are massacred, St. Augustine is founded, and Spanish missionaries begin a 200-year effort to convert the Indians to Christianity. Eyewitness accounts help readers compare life during first Spanish then British rule and find out how Florida finally became part of the United States in 1821. Readers can now view the Sunshine State's history through fresh eyes in impeccably researched text.