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→British acquisition
Great Britain came into possession of Pensacola, and the rest of Florida, as a result of the [[Wikipedia:Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]] (1763), which ended the [[Wikipedia:French and Indian War|French and Indian War]], the North American component of the wider [[Wikipedia:Seven Years' War|Seven Years' War]]. Britain organized its new holdings into two territories: '''East Florida''', which comprised modern Florida east of the [[Wikipedia:Apalachicola River|Apalachicola River]], with its capital at Saint Augustine; and '''West Florida''', which comprised the portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida that laid south of the [[Wikipedia:31st parallel north|31st parallel]] and between the Mississippi and Apalachicola Rivers. In [[1764]], the British moved the northern boundary up to 32° 22′ north, absorbing the southern thirds of modern-day Mississippi and Alabama.
Britain took official possession of Pensacola on [[August 7]], [[1763]], when a Captain Wills of the Third Battery of the Royal Artillery received it arrived from Havana to receive Pensacola from the Spanish commandant. On [[September 3]] Spain evacuated the last of its troops.<ref>Hamilton, Peter J. [http://books.google.com/books?id=_0wUAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage#PPA399,M1 "British West Florida"]. ''Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society''. Oxford, Miss.: 1903.</ref>
===Revolutionary War===
