“Florida, including Sanibel, was a possession of Spain until it was traded to Britain in exchange for Cuba in 1763. The previous half century had seen frequent battles between the British and the Spanish over Florida settlements: the British had captured Havana in 1762, but preferred Florida because of the proximity of the British colonies to the north. Thus ended some 250 years of Spanish rule.
The first modern settlement on Sanibel was established by the Florida Peninsular Land Company in 1832. The Company began marketing Sanibel as a planned community that would “become the garden of Florida”. It was said to have streams of fresh water, be high and dry almost eight feet above high tide and constantly refreshed with sea breezes. The East End of the island was plotted into 50 homesites (along with a town center) and the rest of the island was divided into 50 parallel tracts which ran from Gulf to bay.”
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