Spain’s adversaries moved even closer when England founded Georgia in 1733，its southernmost continental colony．Georgians attacked Florida in 1740，assaulting（袭击）the Castillo de San Marcos at St．Augustine for almost a month．While the attack was not successful，it did point out the growing weakness of Spanish Florida．
Britain gained control of Florida in 1763in exchange for Havana，Cuba，which the British had captured from Spain during the Seven Years’War（1756—1763）．Spain evacuated（撤出，排泄）Florida after the exchange，leaving the province virtually empty．At that time，St．Augustine was still a garrison（驻军，卫戍地，要塞）community with fewer than five hundred houses，and Pensacola also was a small military town．
The British had ambitious plans for Florida．First，it was split into two parts：East Florida，with its capital at St．Augustine；and West Florida，with its seat at Pensacola．British surveyors mapped much of the landscape and coastline and tried to develop relations with a group of Indian people who were moving into the area from the North．The British called these people of Creek Indian descent Seminolies，or Seminoles．Britain attempted to attract white settlers by offering land on which to settle and help for those who produced products for export．Given enough time，this plan might have converted Florida into a flourishing（繁荣的，欣欣向荣的）colony，but British rule lasted only twenty years．
The two Floridas remained loyal to Great Britain throughout the War for American Independence．However，Spain captured Pensacola from the British in 1781．In 1784it regained control of the rest of Florida as part of the peace treaty that ended the American Revolution．
When the British evacuated Florida，Spanish colonists as well as settlers from the newly formed United States came pouring in．Many of the new residents were lured（引诱）by favorable Spanish terms for acquiring property，called land grants．Others who came were escaped slaves，trying to reach a place where their U．S．masters had no authority and effectively could not reach them．Instead of becoming more Spanish，the two Floridas increasingly became more “American”．Finally，after several official and unofficial U．S．military expeditions into the territory，Spain formally ceded（放弃）Florida to the United States in 1821．
On one of those military operations，in 1818，General Andrew Jackson made a foray（袭击）into Florida．Jackson’s battles with Florida’s Indian people later would be called the First Seminole War．
By 1840white Floridians were concentrating on developing the territory and gaining statehood．The population had reached 54，477people，with African American slaves making up almost one－half of the population．Steamboat（汽船，轮船）navigation was well established on the Apalachicola and St．Johns Rivers，and railroads were planned．
Florida now was divided informally into three areas：East Florida，from the Atlantic Ocean（大西洋）to the Suwannee River；Middle Florida，between the Suwannee and the Apalachicola Rivers；and West Florida，from the Apalachicola to the Perdido River．The southern area of the territory（south of present－day Gainesville）was sparsely（稀疏地，稀少地）settled by whites．The territory’s economy was based on agriculture．Plantations（种植园，大农场）were concentrated in Middle Florida，and their owners established the political tone for all of Florida until after the Civil War．
These development projects had far－reaching effects on the agricultural，manufacturing，and extractive industries of late－nineteenth－century Florida．The citrus（柑橘类的植物）industry especially benefitted，since it was now possible to pick oranges in south Florida；put them on a train heading north；and eat them in Baltimore（巴尔的摩，美国马里兰州的一城市），Philadelphia（费城（美国宾西法尼亚州东南部港市）），or New York in less than a week．
In 1898national attention focused on Florida，as the Spanish－American War began．The port city of Tampa served as the primary staging area for U．S．troops bound for the war in Cuba．Many Floridians supported the Cuban（古巴（人）的）peoples’desire to be free of Spanish colonial rule．
By the turn of the century，Florida’s population and per capita wealth were increasing rapidly；the potential of the “Sunshine State”appeared endless（无止境的，无穷的）．By the end of World War I，land developers had descended on this virtual gold mine．With more Americans owning automobiles，it became commonplace to vacation in Florida．Many visitors stayed on，and exotic（外来的，奇异的）projects sprang up in southern Florida．Some people moved onto land made from drained swamps．Others bought canal－crossed tracts through what had been dry land．The real estate developments quickly attracted buyers，and land in Florida was sold and resold．Profits and prices for many developers reached inflated（膨胀的，通货膨胀的）levels．
Governor州长
Jeb Bush州长在1998年被选举为佛罗里达州州长，2002年再次被选为州长。在他两届的任职里，他革新教育体制，实现了有志学生的伟大抱负，他提供坚实而广泛的税收减免政策和有效的经济鼓励来加强和丰富佛罗里达州的经济，采取措施来增强家庭经济收入，以帮助低收入者，而且采取措施保护佛罗里达州的自然资源。
Governor Jeb Bush was elected Florida’s 43rd Governor in 1998and was re－elected in 2002．
During his two terms，Governor Bush has revolutionized the education system to achieve dramatic rising student achievement，provided substantial，broad－based tax relief and economic incentives（鼓励）to strengthen and diversify Florida’s economy，and initiated measures to strengthen families，help the state’s most vulnerable（易受攻击的）citizens，and protect Florida’s natural resources．
Governor Bush’s efforts in education are guided by the belief that all children can learn a year’s worth of knowledge in a year’s worth of time．Governor Bush’s “A+Plan For Education”，established in 1999，raised standards，increased accountability and funding for our public schools，and provided Opportunity Scholarships for children in chronically（慢性地，长期地）failing schools．He also ended social promotion，ensuring that Florida’s children are not victims of low expectations．
Under Governor Bush，public school funding during the past seven years has increased by6．1billion or 54percent，and per student funding has increased by 1，564or 32percent．