Template:Wp-Volusia County, Florida-History

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Volusia County was named after its largest community, Volusia, when the Florida Legislature created it by dividing Orange County on December 29, 1854. At the time, Volusia County had about 600 residents.

The origins of the word "Volusia" are unclear, though several theories exist:

1. The name came from a word meaning "Land of the Euchee", from the Euchee Indians who migrated into the area after the Timucua Indian cultures declined in the early 1700s.^[1] The Euchees (or Uchees) lived in the area of Spring Gardens, about 10 miles south of Volusia.
2. It was named after a British settler named Voluz, who owned a plantation located on the St. Johns River in the late 1700s.
3. The name originated from the Veluche, the surname of a French or Belgian owner of the trading post in Volusia. According to some, this was during the British regime, and according to others, it was around 1818. Over time, the name Veluche became anglicized to Volusia.
4. The town was established by and named for Jere Volusia.
5. The settlement was named by the Spanish after the celebrated Roman jurist Volusio, who wrote 30 books and tutored Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and philosopher.^[2]

The land area of present-day Volusia County was long inhabited by the indigenous Timucua and Mayaca peoples. Neither historic group exists today as distinct ethnic tribes, having been decimated by disease and war in the decades after contact with European traders and settlers. The large shell middens at Tomoka State Park and other evidence of their historic habitation can still be seen in various areas of Volusia County.

During the British occupation of Florida, a colony known as New Smyrna was started in southeast Volusia County by Andrew Turnbull. This colony was connected to St. Augustine, the capital of East Florida, via the Kings Road. After the failure of the colony the settlers, many of whom were ethnic Menorcan and Greek, traveled the to move to St. Augustine.

The Seminole Indians, descendants of the Creek tribe of Alabama and Georgia who resisted forced relocation to Indian Territory, also camped in various parts of Volusia County. During the Second Seminole War (1836–1842), the Seminole burned a large sugar plantation in what is today the city of Daytona Beach.

On the east shore of the St. Johns River in Volusia, in present-day DeBary, General Winfield Scott established a fort/depot in 1836 named Fort Florida.