Map of Pensacola

Map of Pensacola

The Battle of Pensacola on May 8th, 1781 sealed the Spanish recapture of Florida from the British during the American Revolution. An impressive battle on land and sea lead to Spain’s victory over Great Britain for the southeastern-most region of the modern USA. The embattled territory is depicted on the gorgeous map from the year 1783, which was made by a Spaniard in Seville. Tented camps populate the banks of the bays, a settlement – Pensacola – is marked, and the turquoise water is navigated by a marvelously majestic sailing ship. In this way, the impressive events of this historically significant battle is brought back to life before the eyes of the beholder!

The Battle for Florida

Bombastic cannon fire, an impressive brig off the coast, and fighting soldiers on both sides. One can easily conceive of the prevailing mood during the Battle of Pensacola, the capital of West Florida, in the year 1781. Pensacola, a city in the modern State of Florida, was the first settlement by Europeans on the soil of the present-day United States. The locale on a Caribbean bay was first settled in 1559 and was eventually conquered by the British in the 18th century.

The Spanish General Archives

An impressive historic map of this important event is stored in the Archivo General in Simancas. The geographic maps appear in an elegantly-restrained execution. The wide, white surface of the land is unique and is accentuated by the intense light-blue of the water in the bay, which is broken up by the wide-reaching arms of the sea. Nonetheless, this appears unspectacular at first glimpse, hiding the reality of a true treasure of cartography. A majestic, two-mast ship floats in the bay. This is, as is clarified in the text, a brig called the Galveston, which is anchored before the city, in order to disrupt the connection between the two bays. On the western bank of the bay, one can clearly recognize a settlement, the actual city of Pensacola, and a multitude of tented camps.

Spanish History in the Form of a Map

In a box in the upper-right corner of the page, a clarification of the delineated numbers explains the precise circumstances of the historical events. The bay is described here as lying al norte del seno Mexicano, translated as “somewhere in the north of the Gulf of Mexico”. Additionally, the map shows the positioning of the military camp between the arms of the river, the positioning of the cannons, the city, and the British settlement. A display scale can be found on the upper-middle margin. Another box is on the upper-left side of the page, which relates that the map of Pensacola was drawn in Seville in the year 1783.