USS Florida was named in honor of this state.

History

Archaeologic finds imply that Florida got been inhabited for numbers of hundreds to thousands of years before any European settlements. Of a numerous forearm population, a big tribes were a Calusa, Tequesta, Timucuan, & the Tocobago tribes. Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish navigator, known as this fresh land within honor of his discovery of the land in Easter Sunday, March 27, 1513, which is called by Spaniards Pascua Florida, "Holy Day of Flowers." From either that date forward, a land became called "La Florida." Across a as a consequence century, a Spanish & French both established settlements in Florida, using variable degrees of profits. Spanish Pensacolthe wwhen established by Don Tristan de Luna as a number one European payout within the todays United States in 1559 (its cash settlement was interrupted by a hurricane). Six years late, around 1565, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés established Saint Augustine as a number 1 lasting European class action settlement. These deuce cities would are to exist as a upper case of the British & Spanish colonies of East & West Florida.

A region of Florida diminished using a establishment of British colonies to the north & French colonies to the west. Control of area of Florida passed among Spanish, British, & U.s. control. Spain eventually ceded Florida to a United States by having the Adams-Onís Treaty in 1819, in exchange for the U.S. renouncing any claims in Texas. In March 3, 1845, Florida became the Twenty-seventh state of the United states. Florida seceded from either a Uniin on January 10, 1861 and was one of the instauration members of the Confederate States of America (CSA, also referred to as a Confederacy). Florida joined a CSA in February 10, 1861. When a fall of a Confederacy within 1865, Florida was readmitted into the Uniin on June 25, 1868. Until a mid-twentieth century, Florida was a least thickly settled Southern state. Now, Florida is the 4th virtually all thickly settled state in the Union & 2nd virtually all thickly settled south.

Law and Government
Independent Article: Government of Florida

A basic structure, duties, work, & operations of the Government of the State of Florida come defined & established per Florida Constitution, which also establishes a basic law of the state & guarantees various rights & freedoms of the population. A state government consists of deuce-ace separate branches, a judicial, executive & legislative. A Florida Legislature enacts legislation, such as victims in the Florida Statutes, which are signed into law per Governor of Florida.

A Florida Legislature has the Senate of Forty members & a Home of Great hundred members. A todays governor is Republican Jeb Bush, brother of President George W. Bush and son of former President George H. W. Bush.

Though Floridthe has traditionally been a Democratic state, in recent years explosive people incubation has brought by having it numerous Republicans, leaving a state more or less evenly split between them parties. Despite this demographic parity, Republicans control a governorship & virtually all more statewide elective agents, two houses of the state legislative, Xviii of the state's Xxv seats in the House of Representatives, and one of a state's deuce Senate seats. The 2000 Presidential election in Florida was extremely close. When such, & because of its high people & big total of electoral votes, Floridthe is considered by political analysts to become a key swing state in Presidential elections. A Tampa arethe, once a major center of Popular union support, is now about evenly split between registered Republicans & Democrats, making it a share of the significant I-4 Corridor swing region.

Watch As well: List of Florida Governors U.S. presidential election, 2000, in Florida U.S. presidential election, 2004, in Florida

Taxation

Floridthe is one of a nine states which don't inflict a individual income tax (list of others). A state sales tax rate is 6 percent. Local governments might levy even more, an extra local guide sales revenue enhancement of as much as One.0 percent. The venue's use tax rate is the same when its nuisance tax rate, including local alternatives in case any. Utilise taxation come collectable for purchases processed away from state & brought into Florida inside Six months of the acquire date.

Geography

Understand: list of counties in Florida

Florida consists of the Panhandle extending along the northern Gulf of Mexico and the big Peninsula with the Atlantic Ocean when its eastern border and a Gulf of Mexico as its american border. These are approach the n per states of Georgia and Alabama and on the west, at the end of the panhandle, by Alabama. These are touching a countries of the Caribbean, particularly the Bahamas and Cuba.

At 345 feet (105 metres) above mean sea level, Britton Hill is the highest point within Florida. This is likewise a moo highpoint of any U.S. state. Contrary to popular belief, nevertheless, Florida is non an completely "flat" state. A bit of stores, like Cleara water supply, feature comparatively high view rising 50 to 100 feet above a water. Tremendously of a interior even of Florida, occasionally Xxv miles or thomas more out of the coastline, features rolling hills by owning elevations ranging from either 100 to 250 feet within several locations. Flow of any stream County holds a greatest point of peninsular Florida, Sugarloaf Mountain , at 312 feet. A total of topographic vary might surprise numbers of visitant.

Boundaries
A state boundary begins at a Atlantic, itinerant west, south, & northward higher a thalweg of the Saint Mary's River. At a origin of that flow of any stream, it so follows a straight line about due-west & slightly to the north, pertinent in which the confluence of the Flint River (from Georgia) and a Chattahoochee River (down the Alabama/Georgia line) used to form Florida's Apalachicola River. (This point is okay, under Lake Seminole since Woodruff Dam was built.) a border using Georgithe continues northerly through the flow of any stream for a short few feet away higher the previous thalweg of the Chattahoochee, so sustaining Alabama diarrhea due west along latitude 31°N to the Perdido River, then in the south along its thalweg to the Gulf via Perdido Bay.

Climate

A climate of Florida is tempered somewhat by its proximity to water system. Virtually all of a state has a humid subtropic climate sustaining the extreme tip of Florida & the Florida Keys bordering on the avowedly tropical climate. Nevertheless, Florida averages 300 years of to the full sunshine a year. A seasons around Florida typically known as "Hot and Hotter" come actually determined supplementary by precipitation than by temperature with warmly, comparatively dry winters and autumns (the dry year) & hot, soaked springs and especially the summers (the needing changed year). A Gulf Stream has the moderating result in Florida climate & although these are commons for great deal of Florida to understand a high summertime temperature assibilate Ninety degrees Fahrenheit, it is non park for the mercury to last above Centred degrees Fahrenheit inside Florida. Mean hotness for late July come primarily in the great Ninety's. Mean coldness for late January range from either a online Xl's inside N Florida to the mid-50's within South Florida.

When Florida's nickname is the "Sunshine State", severe atmospheric condition occurs as most common occurrence inside Florida. Statewide, Florida has a greatest typical precipitation of any state, due within heavy section to afternoon thunderstorms which are common throughout virtually all of a state from either late spring until the early fall. Notwithstanding, the sunny day can be interrupted sustaining the storm single to link to to regular gorgeous weather condition. These electric storm, which are then from either either air flow from a Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean colliding over a peninsula, ostensibly "pop up" in the early afternoon & could typically bring heavily waterspout, high winds & another time tornadoes. This is oftentimes due to "onshore flow," or a collision of sea breezes from either the east & west coasts. Florida leads a united states witharound tornadoes by a square mile, although the tornadoes in Florida don't develop when big when people in the Midwest or Great Plains. Hail is not an rare occurrence within a select few of the other severe electrical storm.

Central Florida is known as a Lightning Capital of the globe when it lives other lightning strikes than anywhere else in the world.

Snow is a rare occurrence around Florida. In a period of the Great Blizzard of 1899, Florida experienced blizzard conditions for possibly a number one instance since explorers got arrived. When you took that instance, a Tampa Bay area had "Gulf effect" snow, similar to lake effect snowfall. A Peachy Blizzard of 1899 was besides a exclusively period a temperature has fallen inside the image below Zero degrees Fahrenheit, registering -2° F in Tallahassee. A virtually all far flung snow withinside Florida history happened in February 1978 with snow falling over lot of the state inside different days of the year, extending when far south when Homestead. Snow flurries fell on Miami Beach for the only period around recorded history. Inside 1989, there was the severe stiff freeze that created lots of ice & as well stimulated minor flurries inside sections of the state & resulted inside rolling blackouts due to power failures from either massive demands on the power grid for heating.

Although occasionally storms use formed away from year, hurricanes pose a threat in the period of hurricane year, which is from either June 1 to November 30. Floridthe saw a whole lot of destruction inside 2004 when it was hit by a record foursome hurricanes. Hurricanes Charley (August 13), Frances (September 4-5), Ivan (September 16), and Jeanne (September 25-26) cumulatively cost forty-2 billion dollars to the state. Around 2005, Hurricane Dennis (July 10) became the fifth storm to strike Florida in Xi months. Late, Hurricane Katrina (August 25) passed through South Florida and Hurricane Rita (September 20) swept through the Florida Keys. Florida was besides a places of the 2nd virtually all costly lone upwind disaster inside U.S. history, Hurricane Andrew, which caused to a higher degree twenty-5 billion dollars ($25,000,000,000) in damage whenever it struck in August 12, 1992. Among an extended names of more ill-famed hurricane strikes were a 1926 Great Miami Hurricane, the Lake Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928, the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Donna in 1960, and Hurricane Opal in 1995.

Economy

A gross state product of Florida within 2003 was $550 billion. A by the capita portable income was $30,098, ranking Twenty-six^th in the united states.

Florida's economy is heavy according to touristry. Warmly atmospheric condition virtually all of the season & hundreds of miles of beach provide the thriving resort area for traveller from either in the world. A big Walt Disney World Resort with four theme parks & concluded twenty hotels + unnumerable water supply parks, plaza & more facilities, located in Lake Buena Vista drives a economy of that vicinity, along by owning supplementary recent entries into a theme park arena like the Universal Orlando Resort. the swell total of sales & holidaymaker revenue is what allows a state to become one of a couple of to non levy a portable income revenue enhancement. More major industries include citrus fruit & juice production, banking, and phosphate mining within a Bone Valley region. By having a arrival of the space program at Kennedy Space Center in the 1960s, Floridthe has attracted a prominent total of aerospace & military industries to the state. Florida did non keep around any state minimum wage laws until November 2, 2004, when elector passed the Constitutional Amendment requiring inflationary increases to the minimum remuneration each captain hicks months.

Historically, Florida's economy was depending upon kine farming & agriculture (especially sugar cane, citrus, tomatoes, & strawberries). When land speculators found Florida in the early 1900's, & while Plant & Flagler developed a railroad, extra humans moved within, drawn per commonly adept weather. From either so in, touristry boomed, fueling the period of development & touristry that overwhelmed much of farmland.

More key industries, commercial camping & a water supply-depending tourer activities (sports camping & diving) come threatened by severe Red Tide eruption around 2004 & 2005 off a west coast.

Demographics

When of 2004, the state's people was guessed to exist as 17,397,161.

Race and Ancestry

	White	65.4%
	Hispanic	16.8%
	Black	14.6%
	Asian	1.7%
	Native American	0.3%
	Mixed Race	2.4%

Blacks, world health organization when you took a cotton gauze & sugar plantation era manufactured higher fully 50 percent of the state's people, have a big presence in the deeply southern middle Florida area of N Florida & in the cities of Jacksonville, Gainesville, & Fort Lauderdale. Transplanted Northerners come large on the West Coast, particularly in the Tampa suburban area. Floridians of British ancestry come dominant inside virtually all coastal cities, when Floridians of Western ancestry dominate a unfeeling Southern areas of inland N Florida. Florida's big & diverse Hispanic community consists particularly of Cubans around Miami & Tampa, Puerto Ricans withinside Tampa & Orlando, & Mexican migratory workers in inl& West-Central and South Florida. There exists as well the total of Haitian Americans around Miami & more area of Florida.

Native Floridians world health organization keep close at hand descended from either long-period Florida families come dear known as "Crackers." This is because several early settlers were oxen farmers, & utilized bullwhips to "crack" all over a oxen to move the children.

Florida is one of a merely states where Hispanics predominantly vote Republican. This descrepancy arises because humans classified when "Hispanic" came from either widely diverse backgrounds. Population whose race is identified when "Hispanic" inside Florida come mostly of Cuban descent, as opposed to Mexican descent (who survive largely in the southwest of the U.S.) or Puerto Rican descent (who live largely in the northeast of the U.S.). Florida's convenient-aggressive Hispanic people is heavily within Miami, Central Florida, and a Gulf Coast. Black Floridians are overpoweringly Democratic voters. Blacks comprise the big fraction of the populations of North Florida, Fort Lauderdale, and the Tampa Bay Area.

Languages
When of 2000, 76.9% of Florida residents age Quintet & older speak English at home and Sixteen.5% speak Spanish. French is the third most spoken language at Two.2%, followed by German at 0.6% & Italian at 0.4%.

Article 2, Segment 9 of the Florida Constitution provides that "English is the official language of the State of Florida." This was adopted in 1988 by the vote below an Initiative Petition.

Religion
Floridthe is mostly Protestant, however by having a growing Roman Catholic community due to immigration. There exists besides the sizable Jewish community within occasionally arethe of Florida which makes Florida unique among Southern states (there are no more Southern state has a big Jewish community). Florida's todays religious affiliations come shown in the table beneath:

Christian – 82% Protestant – 54% Baptist – 19% Methodist – 6% Presbyterian – 4% Episcopal – 3% Lutheran – 3% Pentecostal – 3% Other Protestant – 16% Roman Catholic – 26% Other Christian – 2% Jewish – 4% Other Religions – 1% Non-Religious – 13%

Important cities, towns, and communities

Area People > 5,000,000 Miami-Ft.Lauderdale Area People > 2,500,000 Tampa-St. Petersburg Area People > 1,000,000 Jacksonville Orlando West Palm Beach Area People > 400,000 Sarasota-Bradenton Lakeland Melbourne-Titusville Cape Coral-Fort Myers-Naples Daytona Beach Port Saint Lucie-Fort Pierce-Stuart Pensacola City People > 200,000 Jacksonville Miami Tampa St. Petersburg Hialeah Orlando City People > 100,000 Cape Coral Clearwater Coral Springs Fort Lauderdale Gainesville Hollywood Miami Gardens Pembroke Pines Miramar Port Saint Lucie Pompano Beach Tallahassee

City People > 75,000 Boca Raton Brandon Davie Deltona Kendall Lakeland Miami Beach Palm Bay Plantation Sunrise West Palm Beach City People > 50,000 Boynton Beach Bradenton Daytona Beach Deerfield Beach Delray Beach Fort Myers Fountainbleau Kendale Lakes Kissimmee Largo Lauderhill Lehigh Acres Margate Melbourne North Miami North Miami Beach Palm Harbor Pensacola Sarasota Spring Hill Tamarac Tamiami Town 'n' Country Weston

City People > 25,000 Altamonte Springs Aventura Apopka Bonita Springs Coconut Creek Cooper City Coral Gables Dunedin East Lake Egypt Lake-Leto Fort Pierce Greater Carrollwood Greenacres Hallandale Beach Homestead Jupiter Lake Magdalene Lake Worth Lauderdale Lakes North Fort Myers North Lauderdale Ocala Ocoee Oakland Park Ormond Beach Oveido Palm Beach Gardens Panama City Pinellas Park Plant City Port Orange Port Charlotte Riviera Beach Sanford Titusville University Wellington Westchester Winter Haven Winter Park Winter Springs

Miscellaneous information
State Bird: Mockingbird State Flower: Orange blossom - (Citrus sinensis) State Song: "Old folks at home (Swannee River)" by Stephen C. Foster State Tree: Sabal Palm State Reptilian: American Alligator State Animate being: A Florida Panther State Saltwater Mammalian: A Manatee State Drink to your hearts content: Orange Juice State Eggshell: A Horse Conch (The dandy band eggshell) State Seawater Fish: A Sailfish State Freshwater Fish: Florida Largemouth Bass Highest Point: Britton Hill; 345 feet, 50th State Slogan: "In God We Trust" is the unofficial State Motto, Florida has there is no official Motto.

Transportation

Florida's interstates, state highways and U.S. Highways are maintained by the Florida Department of Transportation.

Florida's interstate include: I-4, which bisects the state, connecting Tampa, Lakeland, Orlando, and Daytona Beach I-10, which traverses the panhandle, connecting Jacksonville, Lake City, Tallahassee, and Pensacola I-75, which enters the state touching Lake City and continues southward across Gainesville, Ocala, and Tampa's eastern suburbs to Naples, where, as a toll road it crosses the "Alligator Alley" to Ft. Lauderdale I-95, which enters the state touching Jacksonville and continues along the Atlantic Coast across Daytona Beach, Melbourne, West Palm Beach, and Ft. Lauderdale before terminating near Miami I-110 I-175, which connects I-275 to southern downtown St. Petersburg I-195 I-275 I-295, a beltway around Jacksonville I-375, which connects I-275 to northern downtown St. Petersburg I-395 I-595, which connects I personally-75, I-95, & a Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport I-795, proposed touching Jacksonville

Florida's interstate rules contains 1,473 miles of main road, & there are 9,934 miles of non-interstate main road in the state, like Florida state highways and U.S. Highways.

Florida has many toll roads. A state has 515 miles of toll roads in the thruway models. A part of Interstate 75 passing through the Everglades occurs as toll road. A Florida Turnpike, which begins off of Interstate 75 upright south of Ocala, continues southeast to Orlando, and down to West Palm Beach is also the toll road. Connecting I personally-75 to the southwest Tampa region is the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway.

Florida has about C different specialty numberplate to order from either for machine. There are plates for various issues & is the causal agent of, like environmental, & too for various organizations & colleges.

Around 2000, voters approved the constitutional amendment to construct the high speed rail formulas to interconnect Florida's major cities. The committee was formed per Florida Legislature to oversee the task. Notwithstanding, Jeb Bush and other lawgiver pushed for an amendment around 2004 to remove a amendment, which succeeded. It stated that a prices would st& been as well high to construct a models; nonetheless, advocate of a formulas keep close at hand said a claims on high numbers were exaggerated and taken away from context, likened using the prices of building roads, maintaining car, so forth.

Amtrak service exists within Florida, however these are considered by numbers of does'nt to become extensive or even ready to hand plenty for all the world however vacation travel.

Public transportation systems exist inside numerous major cities. Miami has a monorail system, and virtually all cities use bus service. Yet, a bus company is typically criticized for existence badly funded, & as well infrequent, thin, inconvenient & spotty for good utilise. Efforts, like a high speed rail models, monorails, & improved bus company, stand been proposed by several to help guide this situation.

Greyhound provides bus service between different cities inside Florida. A service on this text as well is said to become too infrequent & slow. The hike between Tampa and Miami can take Ten hours, for example.

Wholly major cities around Florida stand airdrome, like Miami International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Tampa International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Jacksonville International Airport. There are several more little regional & international airdrome, including a single inside Key West.

Education and culture
Florida's public school revenue by the student & disbursement by the $1000 of portable income normally ranks in the bottom 25% of U.S. states. Typical teacher earnings rank touching a middle of U.S. states.

Florida public schools keep around systematically ranked in the bottom 25% of numbers of national researchers & typical line 2 text score rankings. It should become noted that numerous education studies are non scientific, however run measure prestigiousness. Governor Jeb Bush hequally been criticized by many Floridthe pedagog for a program that penalizes underperforming schools (as indicated by standardized tests, such as a FCAT) with fewer funding dollars. Major even touching organizations often forget about a utilise of state typical trial score rankings, or any norm of scaled scores, as a valid metrical (understand psychometrics for more details in scaled line 1 text scores).

Within 2000, Governor Bush and a state legislative assembly acted to abolish a Board of Regents that governed a State University System of Florida. Instead, apiece public university is today restricted by its have Board of Trustees world health organization come directly appointed per governor. When is average of executive-appointed government boards, a appointees and then far develop been overpoweringly Republican. This has non been while forgoing arguing. [http://www.sptimes.com/News/050801/State/Bush_s_trustees_mostl.shtml] Within 2002, Democratic Senator Bob Graham started a ballot referendum designed to revert to the Board of Regents rules.

Within Florida is depending Wikimedia Foundation.

Colleges and universities

Sports

Professional sports teams in Florida

Spring training

Florida is a traditional at home for Major League Baseball spring how to training, by owning teams informally organized into the "Grapefruit League." As of 2004, Florida hosts the charted major league teams for spring expert instruction:

Atlanta Braves at Walt Disney World Baltimore Orioles in Fort Lauderdale Boston Red Sox in Fort Myers Cincinnati Reds in Sarasota Cleveland Indians in Winter Haven Detroit Tigers in Lakeland Florida Marlins in Jupiter Houston Astros in Kissimmee Los Angeles Dodgers in Vero Beach Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers New York Mets in Port St. Lucie New York Yankees in Tampa Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton Saint Louis Cardinals in Jupiter Tampa Bay Devil Rays in St. Petersburg Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin Washington Nationals in Viera

Minor League teams

Florida besides hosts a below minor league baseball teams: