Florida's Spanish colonial heritage began nearly 100 years before Jamestown with Juan Ponce de León's 1513 landing and ended when Florida became a territory of the United States in 1821. This bibliography lists some of the published works held by the State Library regarding the events beginning with Spanish attempts to explore Florida.
Books
Barrientos, Bartolomé. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Founder of Florida. Gainesville:University of Florida Press, 1965.
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Spain) and Instituto Histórico de Marina. Colección de Diarios y Relaciones para la Historia de los Viajes y Descubrimientos. Madrid: Instituto Histórico de Marina, 1943.
Davis, Thomas Frederick. History of Juan Ponce de León's Voyages to Florida; Source Records. Jacksonville, FL, 1935.
Devereux, Anthony Q. Juan Ponce de León, King Ferdinand, and the Fountain of Youth. Spartanburg, SC: Published in association with Waccamaw Press by the Reprint Co., 1993.
Fairbanks, George R. History of Florida from its Discovery by Ponce de León, in 1512, to the Close of the Florida War, in 1842. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1871. Jacksonville, FL: C. Drew, 1871.
Fraser, Walter B. The First Landing Place of Juan Ponce de León on the North American Continent in the Year 1513. St. Augustine: Fraser, Walter B., 1956.
French, Benjamin Franklin. Historical Collections of Louisiana and Florida, Including Translations of Original Manuscripts Relating to Their Discovery and Settlement, with Numerous Historical and Biographical Notes. New York: A. Mason, 1875.
Fuson, Robert Henderson. Juan Ponce de León and the Spanish Discovery of Puerto Rico and Florida. Blacksburg, VA: McDonald & Woodward, 2000.
García, Genaro. Dos Antiguas Relaciones de la Florida; Publícalas por Primera Vez Genaro García. México: Tip. y Lit. de J. Auilar Vera y Comp., 1902.
Jerome, Father. Juan Ponce de León. Saint Leo, FL: Abbey Press, 1962.
Lawson, Edward W. The Discovery of Florida and Its Discoverer Juan Ponce de León. St. Augustine: E. W. Lawson, 1946.
Lyon, Eugene. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. New York: Garland, 1995.
Lyon, Eugene. The Enterprise of Florida: Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and the Spanish Conquest of 1565-1568. Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, 1976.
Manucy, Albert C. Menéndez: Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Captain General of the Ocean Sea. Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, 1992.
Peck, Douglas T. Ponce de León and the Discovery of Florida: the Man, the Myth, and the Truth. St. Paul, MN: Pogo Press, 1993.
Priestley, Herbert Ingram. The Luna Papers: Documents Relating to the Expedition of Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano for the Conquest of la Florida in 1559-1561. De Land, FL: The Florida State Historical Society, 1928.
Reynolds, Charles B. The Landing of Ponce de León: a Historical Review. Mountain Lakes, NJ: Reynolds, Charles B., 1934.
Ruidíaz y Caravia, Eugenio. La Florida; Su Conquista y Colonización por Pedro Menéndez de Avilés; Obra Premiada por la Real Academia de la Historia. Madrid: Imp. de los Hijos de J.A. García, 1893.
Shipp, Barnard. The History of Hernando de Soto and Florida; or, Record of the Events of Fifty-Six Years, from 1512 to 1568. Philadelphia: Collins, printer, 1881.
Solís de Merás, Gonzalo. Menéndez de Avilés and la Florida: Chronicles of His Expedition. Trans. Laura Callahan. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010.
Solís de Merás, Gonzalo. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés; Memorial. Trans. Jeannette Thurber Connor. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1964.
Stone, Elaine Murray. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and the Founding of St. Augustine. New York: P.J. Kennedy, 1968.
Winn, Ed. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés: Florida's First governor, 1565. Winn's Books, 2005.
Winn, Ed. Ponce de León and His Discovery of Florida in the Year 1513. Winn's Books, 2005.
Selected articles of interest
Coker, William S. "Some Observations from and about the Luna Papers." Florida Historical Quarterly October 1993: 200-202.
Peck, Douglas T. "Reconstruction and Analysis of the 1513 Discovery Voyage of Juan Ponce De León." Florida Historical Quarterly October 1992: 133-154.
Smith, Roger C. "Pensacola's Tristán de Luna shipwreck: a Look at the Archaeological Evidence." Gulf Coast Historical Review Fall 1998: 21-30.
Maps
Barnard, Joseph. Sketch of St. Augustine and Its Environs, 1780.
Bellin, Jacques Nicolas. Plan de la Baye de Pansacola, c. 1744. [1.86 MB PDF]
Boazio, Baptista. Saint Augustine, 1589, c. 1589.
Hinton, John. A Perspective View of Pensacola, c. 1743.
Jefferys, Thomas. St. Augustine, the Capital of East Florida, c. 1769.
Kitchin, Thomas. Map of the Province of West Florida, c. 1781.
Silver, Thomas. A View of the Town and Castle of St. Augustine, and the English Camp Before it June 20, 1740, c. 1740.
Sanson, Nicolas. La Floride, c. 1657.
Wentworth, T. T. Pensacola, c. 1698.