List of colonial governors of Florida

This article is about the colonial governors of Florida (before statehood). For governors of the State of Florida, see List of governors of Florida.

The colonial governors of Florida governed Florida during its colonial period (before 1821). The first European known to arrive there was Juan Ponce de León in 1513, but the governorship did not begin until 1565, when Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine and was declared Governor and Adelantado of Florida.^[1][2] This district was subordinated to the Viceroyalty of New Spain. In 1763, following the transfer of Florida to Britain, the territory was divided into West Florida and East Florida, with separate governors. This division was maintained when Spain resumed control of Florida in 1783, and continued as provincial divisions with the Spanish Constitution of 1812. The Spanish transferred control of Florida to the United States in 1821, and the organized, incorporated Florida Territory was established on March 30, 1822. This became the modern State of Florida on March 3, 1845.

Flag of New Spain

First Spanish period, 1565–1763

Name	Term	Notes
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés	Sep 1565 – Sep 1574	Founder of St. Augustine and Adelantado of the first Florida government; died in office. Lieutenant governors: Esteban de las Alas (Oct 1566 – Aug 1570; deserted); Pedro Menéndez de Avilés II (Aug 1570 – 1571; killed)[3]
Diego de Velasco	1574 – 1576	Acting; previously lieutenant governor (Jul 1571 – 30 Apr 1575)[3]
Hernando de Miranda and Alonso de Solís (murdered)[3]	1576
Gutierre de Miranda	1576 – 1577	acting
Pedro Menéndez Márquez and Rodrigo del Junco (the latter held the governorship between 1590 and 1592)	1577 – 1594	Beginning of the Spanish missions to the Timucua. Vicente González (1577–1578) and Tomás Bernaldo de Quirós (1578–1579) served as interim governors during Márquez' absence. Francisco de Salazar was interim governor from 1583 to 1587, and Juan de Posada governed Florida from 1588 to 1589.[3]
Domingo Martínez de Avendaño	1594 – 1595
Alonso de las Alas, Bartolomé de Argüelles, and Juan Menéndez Márquez	1595 – 1597	acting
Gonzalo Méndez de Canço	1597 – 1603	Pedro Pertrene and Juan García de Naiva served as interim governors in 1598.[3]
Pedro de Ibarra	1603 – 1610
Juan Fernández de Olivera	1610 – 1612
Juan de Arrazola and Joseph de Olivera (royal officials). [3]	1612 – 1613	acting
Juan Treviño de Guillamas	1613 – 1618
Juan de Salinas	1618 – 1624	Lieutenant governor: Alonso de Pastrana (8 Nov 1622 – ?)[3]
Luis de Rojas y Borja	1624 – 1630	Lieutenant governor: Alonso de Pastrana (17 Aug 1627 – ?)[3]
Andrés Rodríguez de Villegas	1630 – 1631
Nicolás Ponce de León and Eugenio de Espinosa	1631 – 1633	acting
Luis de Horruytiner	1633 – 1638	Apalachee missions established
Damián de Vega Castro y Pardo	1638 – 1645
Benito Ruíz de Salazar Vallecilla	1645 – 1646
Francisco Menéndez Márquez and Pedro Benedit Horruytiner (royal officials)[3]	1646 – 1648	acting
Benito Ruíz de Salazar Vallecilla	1648 – 1651
Nicolás Ponce de León	1651	acting
Pedro Horruytiner Benedit	1651 – 1654	acting
Diego de Rebolledo y Suárez de Aponte	1654 – 1659
Alonso de Aránguiz y Cortés	1659 – 1663
Nicolás Ponce de León II	1663 – 1664	acting
Francisco de la Guerra y de la Vega	1664 – 1671
Manuel de Çendoya	1671 – 1673	beginning the built of the Castillo de San Marcos
Nicolás Ponce de León II	1673 – 1675	acting
Pablo de Hita y Salazar	1675 – 1680
Juan Márquez Cabrera	1680 – 1687
Pedro de Aranda y Avellaneda	1687	acting
Diego de Quiroga y Losada	1687 – 1693
Laureano de Torres y Ayala, Marquis of Casa Torres	1693 – 1699	finishing the built of the Castillo de San Marcos; Later served as royal governor of Cuba
José de Zúñiga y la Cerda	1699 – 1706	later served as governor of Cartagena de Indias
Francisco de Córcoles y Martínez	1706 – 1716
Pedro de Olivera y Fullana	1716
Juan de Ayala y Escobar	1716 – 1718	acting
Antonio de Benavides	1718 – 1734
Francisco del Moral y Sánchez	1734 – 1737
Manuel Joseph de Justís	1737	acting
Manuel de Montiano	1737 – 1749
Melchor de Navarrete	1749 – 1752
Fulgencio García de Solís	1752 – 1755	acting
Alonso Fernández de Heredia	1755 – 1758
Lucas Fernando de Palacio y Valenzuela	1758 – 1761
Alonso de Cárdenas	1761 – 1762	acting
Melchor Feliú	1762 – 1763	oversaw migration of many Floridanos to Cuba

British period, 1763–1784

East Florida

Name	Term	Notes
John Hedges	20 Jul 1763 – 30 Jul 1763	capital at St. Augustine (acting governor)
Francis Ogilvie	30 Jul 1763 – 29 Aug 1764	acting governor
James Grant	29 Aug 1764 – 9 May 1771
John Moultrie	9 May 1771 – 1 Mar 1774
Patrick Tonyn	1 Mar 1774 – 12 Jul 1784

West Florida

Name	Term	Notes
Major General Augustine Prévost	6 Aug 1763 – 20 Oct 1763	Interim military government. Capital at Pensacola
Major Robert Farmar	20 Oct 1763 – Oct 1764	Acting
Commodore George Johnstone	Oct 1764 – Jan 1767
Montfort Browne	Jan 1767 – 2 April 1769 2 May 1769 - c.Nov 1769	Acting governor.
Captain John Eliot	2 Apr 1769 – 2 May 1769	Committed suicide in office by hanging.
Captain-Lieutenant Elias Durnford	c. Nov 1769 – 10 Aug 1770
Peter Chester	10 Aug 1770 – 9 May 1781

Second Spanish period, 1784–1821

East Florida

Name	Term	Notes
Vicente Manuel de Céspedes y Velasco	12 July 1784 – July 1790	capital at St. Augustine. Francisco Cruzat served as interim governor in 1789.
Juan Nepomuceno de Quesada y Barnuevo	July 1790 – March 1796
Bartolomé Morales	March 1796 – June 1796	acting governor
Enrique White	June 1796 – March 1811
Juan José de Estrada	March 1811 – June 1812	Patriot War with U.S.
Sebastián Kindelán y Oregón	June 1812 – June 1815	Patriot War with U.S.
Juan José de Estrada	June 1815 – January 1816
José María Coppinger	January 1816 – 10 July 1821

West Florida

Name	Term	Notes
Colonel Arturo O'Neill de Tyrone	9 May 1781 – Nov 1792, or in 1794	capital at Pensacola
Carlos Howard	Nov 1792 – Aug 1793
Enrique White	Aug 1793, or Aug 1794 – Nov 1795
Francisco de Paula Gelabert	May 1796 – Sep 1796
Colonel Vicente Folch y Juan	Nov 1796 – Mar 1809
Francisco San Maxent	Mar 1809 – May 1809	interim; see Apr. 1811
Colonel Vicente Folch y Juan	May 1809 - Oct 1809
Francisco San Maxent	Dec 1809 - Oct 1810	interim
Francisco Collell	Oct 1810 – Feb 1811	interim
Francisco San Maxent	Apr 1811 – Jun 1812
Mauricio de Zúñiga	Jul 1812 – Apr 1813
Mateo González Manrique	May 1813 – Feb 1815
José de Soto	Feb 1815 – Mar 1816
Mauricio de Zúñiga	Mar 1816 – 15 Sep 1816
Francisco San Maxent	Sep 1816 – Nov 1816
José Fascot	27 Nov 1816 – 26 May 1818
Colonel William King	26 May 1818 – 4 Feb 1819	United States military governor during the First Seminole War
Colonel José María Callava	Feb 1819 – 17 July 1821

See also

• List of governors of Florida, for a list of United States territorial and state governors of Florida since 1821.