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The Perdido River is a river in the U.S. state
U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 state of the United States that share sovereignty with the federal government of the United States . Because of this shared sovereignty, an United States is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of Domicile ....
s of Alabama
Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the Southern United States of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west....
 and Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
, approximately 60 miles (100 km) long. The river forms part of the boundary between the two states along nearly its entire length and drains into the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an oceanic basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba....
. During the early 19th century it played a central role in a series of rotating boundary changes and disputes among France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
, Great Britain
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, and the United States.

It rises in southeastern Alabama in Escambia County
Escambia County, Alabama

Escambia County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is said to be from the name of a river in an Native Americans in the United States language ....
 approximately 8 miles (11 km) NW of Atmore
Atmore, Alabama

Atmore is a city in Escambia County, Alabama, Alabama, United States. At the United States Census, 2000 the population was 7,676. According to the 2005 U.S....
.






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The Perdido River is a river in the U.S. state
U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 state of the United States that share sovereignty with the federal government of the United States . Because of this shared sovereignty, an United States is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of Domicile ....
s of Alabama
Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the Southern United States of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west....
 and Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
, approximately 60 miles (100 km) long. The river forms part of the boundary between the two states along nearly its entire length and drains into the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an oceanic basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba....
. During the early 19th century it played a central role in a series of rotating boundary changes and disputes among France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
, Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
, Great Britain
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, and the United States.

It rises in southeastern Alabama in Escambia County
Escambia County, Alabama

Escambia County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is said to be from the name of a river in an Native Americans in the United States language ....
 approximately 8 miles (11 km) NW of Atmore
Atmore, Alabama

Atmore is a city in Escambia County, Alabama, Alabama, United States. At the United States Census, 2000 the population was 7,676. According to the 2005 U.S....
. It flows south approximately 5 miles (8 km) to latitude 31°N
31st parallel north

The 31st parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 31 degree true north of the Earth equator.Part of the border between Iran and Iraq is defined by the parallel....
, south of which it forms the remainder of the Alabama/Florida border. It flows generally ESE in a winding course and enters the north end Perdido Bay
Perdido Bay

Perdido Bay is a bay draining the Perdido River that lies on the borders of Baldwin County, Alabama and Escambia County, Florida. It lies west of the Florida communities of Pensacola and Perdido Key, Florida and east of the Alabama communities of Orange Beach, Alabama and Lillian, Alabama....
 on the Gulf of Mexico approximately 10 miles (15 km) west of Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola, Florida

Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2006, the estimated population was 53,248....
.

The word perdido is Spanish for "lost".

History

From 1682 to 1763 the Perdido formed the boundary between the French colony of Louisiana
Louisiana

The State of Louisiana is a U.S. state located in the U.S. Southern States of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans....
 and the Spanish colony of Florida. Following the British victory over the French in the French and Indian War
French and Indian War

The French and Indian War was the North American chapter of the Seven Years' War, known in Canada as the War of the Conquest. The name refers to the two main enemies of the British: the royal French forces and the various Indigenous peoples of the Americas forces allied with them....
, the United Kingdom received the French colonial territory west of the Perdido, as well as the Spanish colony of Florida, while Spain received the French territory west of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
. The British divided the new territory into West Florida
West Florida

West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history....
 and East Florida
East Florida

East Florida was originally a part of Spanish Florida. Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris , which ended the Seven Years' War, Spain ceded all of its territory east and southeast of the Mississippi River to the Kingdom of Great Britain....
 at the Apalachicola River
Apalachicola River

The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 112 mi long in the U.S. state Florida. The river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin for short, drains an area of approximately 19,500 sq mi into the Gulf of Mexico....
 (whose main tributary
Tributary

A tributary is a stream or river which flows into a Mainstem river. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea. Tributaries and the mainstem river serve to drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater by leading the water out into an ocean or some other large body of water....
 the Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River

The Chattahoochee River runs from the Chattahoochee Spring in the Appalachian Mountains of northeastern Georgia , near the Carolinas, to the southwestward to Atlanta and through its suburbs....
 forms a large portion of the present boundary between Alabama and Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a U.S. state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against United Kingdom rule in the American Revolution....
, and a small part of the Florida/Georgia boundary). In 1783, as part of the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1783)

The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ratified by the Congress of the Confederation on January 14, 1784 and by the King of Great Britain on April 9, 1784 , formally ended the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and United States, which had rebelled against British rule starting in 1775....
, Britain returned all of Florida to Spain, which at the time controlled all of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

In 1800 as part of the Treaty of San Ildefonso
Third Treaty of San Ildefonso

The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso was a secretly negotiated treaty between France and Spain in which Spain returned the colonial territory of Louisiana to France....
, Spain returned Louisiana to France, retaining control of the territory east of the Mississippi as Florida. In 1804 France subsequently sold Louisiana to the U.S. in the Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of the French territory Louisiana in 1803. The U.S. paid 60 million French franc plus cancellation of debts worth 18 million francs , a total cost of $15,000,000 for the Louisiana territory....
. A boundary dispute erupted between the U.S. and Spain, with the U.S. claiming the land west of the Perdido as part of the original French territory of Louisiana, whereas the Spanish claimed that only the portion of Louisiana west of the Mississippi had been returned to France. The Gulf Coast south of 31 degrees latitude between the Mississippi and Perdido remained disputed between the two nations. The dispute was finally resolved in 1819 in the Adams-Onís Treaty
Adams-Onís Treaty

The Adams-On?s Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819, settled a border dispute in North America between the United States and Spain....
, in which Spain cede
Cession

Most broadly, cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land borders transferred by treaty....
d all of Florida to the United States. The Perdido became the boundary of the Florida Territory
Florida Territory

The Florida Territory was a historic organized territory of the United States from 1822 to 1845....
 in 1822.

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