Florida is largely a peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It has the longest coastline in the lower 48 states and contains much more water in inland lakes and wetlands. It's basically flat, with the highest point just 345 ft/105 m above sea level.
Several Native American tribes—the Apalachees, Timucuans, Calusa and Tocobaga—apparently settled in Florida 10,000-20,000 years ago. The Timucuans left burial mounds that are preserved at several historic sites. Later, the Seminoles—an offshoot of the Creek tribes—moved into the area from present-day Georgia and Alabama.
In 1513, explorer Ponce de Leon arrived at what he would call Florida near St. Augustine, where the Spanish founded the first true settlement in the U.S. about 50 years later. Spain laid the strongest colonial claim, but France and Great Britain also controlled the peninsula over the years before it was turned back over to Spain in 1783. Soon, expansionist settlers from the newly independent U.S. began eyeing Florida. With mounting pressure from the U.S., Spain finally gave up Florida to the fast-growing country in 1819, and settlers poured in.
Resistance from the Seminoles resulted in armed confrontations between the Native Americans and U.S. government forces in the early 1800s. Most of the Seminoles were eventually exiled to Oklahoma, although a small core refused to surrender or be captured. These survivors are ancestors of the 15,000 Seminoles who now live on three Florida reservations.
In 1845, Florida joined the U.S. as a slave state. Economic recovery after the Civil War was long in coming, but it was speeded by the growth of the citrus industry and the state's development as a vacation destination. In more recent years, its popularity has come to pose its biggest challenge. The throngs who vacation and retire in the state have brought massive population growth and development; an estimated 1,000 people move to Florida each day. This has strained some of the state's natural resources, including the coastal beaches and the Everglades.
A totally different kind of strain involved an unprecedented four hurricanes that pounded the Sunshine State in 2004. Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne caused an estimated US$25 billion in damages, but a clean-up quickly followed. The worst-hit areas were the central west-coast towns of Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte, and on the Atlantic side of the state, Palm Beach and Martin counties. Inland areas such as Orlando had less damage. Some of the theme parks in central Florida closed but only for a day or so. The news got out quickly that although a handful of hotels, mainly beachside, had to close to repair damages, it was business as usual for the major tourist areas. The following year, in 2005, Hurricane Wilma blasted across the southern tip of the state from Naples to Fort Lauderdale, again affecting hard-hit Palm Beach and Martin counties. Hurricanes have traditionally been a rarity—and as for chances of the hurricanes happening again, insurance companies point out that even three hurricanes in one season is unusual. The odds of having four hurricanes in one season are less than one in every 100-year cycle. However, most scientists do believe that increasing numbers of hurricanes are a result of warming oceans, thanks to global warming. If you're planning a trip during hurricane season (June-November), pay attention to forecasts and rearrange your plans if a hurricane is likely to disrupt your vacation.
Florida's foremost attractions are sun and sand, freshwater and saltwater fishing, tropical wetlands and forests, Orlando and Walt Disney World Resort, the Florida Keys, the Kennedy Space Center, Miami, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Native American culture, Caribbean and Latin American cuisine, lots of fresh seafood, unlimited watersports and a wide variety of day and night activities.
We can't imagine there's a person alive who won't find something to enjoy in Florida, though those who prefer to avoid heavily commercialized attractions will have to work a bit to find less-traveled areas. Those who love the sea, the beach and warm weather will get the most out of a Florida vacation.
Be aware that the surf at many of the Atlantic beaches can be rough at times. If you are caught in an undertow, don't fight it—you won't win. Instead, let the tide carry you as you swim parallel to the shore. You'll soon be free of the strong current and can then swim to shore.
Do listen if the lifeguard warns you out of the water because of Portuguese men-of-war (they look like little floating blue bubbles). Men-of-war have very long tentacles, and their stings are painful.
Key West is famous for its decadence, its fabulous array of restuarants and as a creative breeding ground for artists, writers and musicians. It's also known as a place to get around by bike, but it has one of the highest levels of deaths from bicycle-related accidents per capita in the U.S.
The manatees that frequent the Gulf Coast are an endangered species: Only about 2,000-3,000 are believed to live in Florida. The main reason they're endangered is the large number of pleasure boats that ply the waters. The manatees find it difficult to avoid the propellers of the boats, and even those that have survived often have visible scars from the blades.
Explorer Juan Ponce de Leon came to Florida in 1513 searching for the Fountain of Youth.
Florida is famous for many air feats. Among them: The world's first scheduled airline passenger flight took place on New Year's Day, 1914, from Tampa to St. Petersburg. The first PanAm office was in Key West. The first scheduled PanAm flight was out of Key West to Florida.
The first swimming pool on Key West was built in the late 1930s by Ernest Hemingway.
The beaches in the Fort Myers/Sanibel Island area have some of the best shelling in the world (only the Sulu Islands in the Philippines and Jeffreys Bay in South Africa are considered better). They have more varieties of shells than anywhere else in North America.
Florida is truly the land of perpetual sunshine: St. Petersburg/Clearwater claims 361 days of sunshine each year.
Even though Florida grows by leaps and bounds and has some terrific commercial areas, such as South Beach in Miami and amusement parks in Orlando, there is still much of the natural Florida that early visitors found so attractive. Although it's true that unspoiled beaches are hard to find, more than 80% of the nation's loggerhead turtles call Florida's beaches home.
Venice is the shark tooth capital of the world.
Florida boasts the largest breeding population of bald eagles in the lower 48 states.
