Book 4, Chapter 12 Failure in Xanadu Summary

2,000 miles to the south of Nova Scotia, a stranger and more exotic society was emerging. Efforts were also being made to exploit and populate the coastal lands of Florida and the gulf and river shores of Mississippi and Alabama. Military leaders had provided what little information was known about this area in the battles with the Spanish. Traders in the area also provided some information. In 1763, when almost all of the land east of the Mississippi River became British territory, entrepreneurial action spilled over into this unknown region. Gradually, an exotic society developed of plantations, worked by gangs of black slaves, nurturing a distinctive culture.

The beginning steps of opening the land to settlement were confident. The British government divided the newly acquired land in the South into East and West Florida. Land in both...