A Royal Proclamation Creates East and West Florida

October 7, 1763 — Britain's October 7 proclamation divided its newly acquired Florida territory into two colonial governments.

By Wm. E. McMullen II

Two Floridas on the Map

On October 7, 1763, King George III issued a royal proclamation organizing Britain's newly acquired North American territories. Among the new governments it described were East Florida and West Florida. Florida's familiar modern outline should not be projected backward onto those colonies.

Spain had transferred Florida to Britain after the Seven Years' War. The proclamation organized British administration; it did not mark the first arrival of people in the region or erase the communities already living there.

Where the Boundary Ran

The proclamation described East Florida using the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Apalachicola River and a northern boundary connecting the Flint and St. Marys river systems. Its description of West Florida extended westward from the Apalachicola toward the Mississippi and the lakes near present-day New Orleans.

West Florida's original northern line was the thirty-first parallel. These boundaries placed territory now outside Florida within a colony bearing the Florida name. Colonial names and present-day state borders are therefore different kinds of geographic evidence.

Pensacola and St. Augustine

Pensacola became the capital of British West Florida, while St. Augustine served as East Florida's capital. Florida Memory's portraits of the British governors connect George Johnstone with West Florida and James Grant with East Florida.

The proclamation also provided for land grants and for representative assemblies when circumstances allowed. Those provisions expressed Britain's plans for settlement and government. A statement authorizing an institution is not the same as evidence that it immediately began operating.

Why It Matters

The October 7 document explains why old maps and records sometimes refer to East Florida and West Florida as separate places. It gives readers a way to understand the names before following the later changes of sovereignty and boundaries.

Florida history includes several overlapping geographies: Indigenous homelands, imperial claims, colonial governments and the later American state. The proclamation records one powerful government's arrangement of that space. Reading its boundaries carefully helps us understand the period without treating today's map as timeless.

Sources for Additional Reading

• Yale Law School, Avalon Project — Royal Proclamation of October 7, 1763
• Florida Memory — West Florida Governor George Johnstone
• Florida Memory — East Florida Governor James Grant