Fernandina Beach City Map Poster

About Fernandina Beach

Fernandina Beach is part of the Jacksonville Beaches community, along with nearby Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Ponte Vedra. The area was first inhabited by the Timucuan Indian people. It became a refuge for them in 1528 when the Spanish arrived on Amelia Island (named after Princess Amelia of Bavaria), which they called "Isla de Santa Águeda". They were later known as "Apalachee" Indians because they came from Apalachee Province in modern-day Georgia and Alabama. The Spanish left Florida in 1763 following Britain's defeat of Spain during the Seven Years' War; however, it did not relinquish its claim to Florida until 1783 at Treaty of Paris ending American Revolutionary War hostilities between Great Britain and France against each other. In 1811 Spain sent soldiers from Cuba to put down an insurrection by United States settlers who had established a free republic there; this action led directly to war between America and Spain that year (see First Seminole War).