Dispute over status of American territory in a region on the Gulf of Mexico between the Apalachicola and Mississippi rivers.
First claimed by Spain in 1492, it was occupied by France as part of Louisiana after 1695, then passed under various treaties to Britain (1763) and Spain (1783). The U.S. claimed it as part of the Louisiana Purchase (1803), and American frontiersmen rebelled against Spanish control in 1810. Under the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819, Spain ceded all claim to West Florida, and it became part of the U.S. in 1821.