front cover of The Economy of British West Florida, 1763-1783
The Economy of British West Florida, 1763-1783
Robin F. A. Fabel
University of Alabama Press, 1988
British West Florida encompassed the panhandle of the modern state of Florida, about half of present-day Alabama, large portion of Mississippi, and some of Louisiana. The British were of diverse opinions regarding the territory. Some British politicians thought the Florida’s full of strategic and economic potential. Others, perhaps without political affiliation, thought it strange that, having conquered developed Spanish possessions of known wealth, such as the Philippines and Cuba, Britain had been persuaded to return them in exchange for Florida, an undeveloped region of unknown worth. That Spain had never been economically successful in its Florida possession was of little concern. The economic self confidence of the British was the outgrowth of a century and a half of establishing initially profitless colonies and making them valued possessions.
            The author’s primary goal is to consider how these people achieved or failed to achieve their ambitions, whether the province as a whole was economically viable, and whether the generally held belief that West Florida was an economic failure is a fair judgment. A secondary aim is to analyze key aspect of the subject that have been neglected in older standard works on the economic life of British West Florida, including the maritime life of the province, the institution of slavery, and the potentially great immigration scheme sponsored by the Company of Military Adventures.
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front cover of The Memoire Justificatif of Chevalier Monberaut
The Memoire Justificatif of Chevalier Monberaut
Indian Diplomacy in British West Florida, 1763-1765
Montault Monberaut
University of Alabama Press, 1965
Presents in greater detail the circumstances and procedure of Indian diplomacy on the Gulf Coast at the beginning of the British period
 
Historians of the Gulf Coast have long delighted in the romance of Spanish discovery and French settlement. The period of British occupation was relatively brief, fruitless, and prosaic, if we are to believe the older authorities. Today the availability of materials which were closed to an earlier generation enables us to re-create the story of British West Florida in terms more precise, with details more personal, and with no less dramatic coloration than has long been given-with less accuracy-to the earlier epochs.
 
In The Memoire Justificatif of Chevalier Monberaut, the translators have undertaken the resurrection of one of those gallant Frenchmen of the ancien regime who remained be­hind to serve the new Anglo-Saxon masters of West Florida. The Chevalier Montault de Monberaut is not unknown to historians of the colonial scene, but he has never enjoyed a full portrayal of his contribution nor a balanced evaluation of his role. By concentrating our attention upon the man as well as his milieu, we have been able to present in greater detail than before the circumstances and procedure of Indian diplomacy on the Gulf Coast at the begin­ning of the British period. By placing Monberaut against the back­drop of British colonial government and its problems, we have replaced some of the romantic fallacies with historic realities. The resulting clarity adds to the picture's significance and appeal.
 
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