Spanish West Florida

Province of West Florida
Province of Viceroyalty of New Spain
1783–1821
Flag of West Florida

CapitalPensacola
Government
 • TypeColonial government
Governor 
• 1783–1792
Arturo O'Neill de Tyrone
• 1819–1821
José María Callava
History 
10 February 1783
• Disestablished
1821
Preceded by
Succeeded by
British West Florida
Florida Territory

Spanish West Florida (Spanish: Florida Occidental) was a province of the Spanish Empire from 1783 until 1821, when both it and East Florida were ceded to the United States.

The region of West Florida initially had the same borders as the erstwhile British colony. Much of its territory was gradually annexed by the United States in the West Florida Controversy. At its greatest extent, the colony included what are now the Florida Parishes of Louisiana, the southernmost parts of Mississippi and Alabama, as well as the Panhandle of Florida. Whereas Southeastern Louisiana and present-day coastal Mississippi and Alabama were annexed either prior to or during the War of 1812, the land which makes up present-day Florida was not acquired until several years later. It became the Florida Territory of the United States in 1822.