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Florida

Florida (/ˈflɒrɪdə/ FLORR-ih-də) is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east; and the Straits of Florida and Cuba to the south. It is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of over 21 million, it is the third-most populous state in the United States, the most populous among the easterly states, and ranks eighth in population density as of 2020. It spans 65,758 square miles (170,310 km2), ranking 22nd in area among the 50 states. The Miami metropolitan area, anchored by the cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, is the state's largest metropolitan area with a population of 6.138 million, and the state's most-populous city is Jacksonville with a population of 949,611. Florida's other major population centers include Tampa Bay, Orlando, Cape Coral, and the state capital of Tallahassee.

This article is about the U.S. state. For other uses, see Florida (disambiguation).

Florida

March 3, 1845 (1845-03-03) (27th)

65,758[5] sq mi (170,312 km2)

53,625 sq mi (138,887 km2)

12,133 sq mi (31,424 km2)  18.5%

447 mi (721 km)

361 mi (582 km)

100 ft (30 m)

345 ft (105 m)

0 ft (0 m)

Neutral increase 22,610,726[7]

3rd

414.8/sq mi (160/km2)

7th

Floridian, Floridan

24° 27' N to 31° 00' N

80° 02' W to 87° 38' W

Various American Indian tribes have inhabited Florida for at least 14,000 years. In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León became the first known European to make landfall, calling the region La Florida (land of flowers) ([la floˈɾiða]) for its lush greenery and the Easter season (Pascua Florida in Spanish). Florida subsequently became the first area in the continental U.S. to be permanently settled by Europeans, with the settlement of St. Augustine, founded in 1565, being the oldest continuously inhabited city. Florida was a Spanish territory frequently attacked and coveted by Great Britain before Spain ceded it to the U.S. in 1819 in exchange for resolving the border dispute along the Sabine River in Spanish Texas. Florida was admitted as the 27th state on March 3, 1845, and was the principal location of the Seminole Wars (1816–1858), the longest and most extensive of the Indian Wars in U.S. history. The state seceded from the Union on January 10, 1861, becoming one of the seven original Confederate States, and was readmitted to the Union after the Civil War on June 25, 1868.


Since the mid-20th century, Florida has experienced rapid demographic and economic growth. Its economy, with a gross state product (GSP) of $1.4 trillion, is the fourth-largest of any U.S. state and the 16th-largest in the world; the main sectors are tourism, hospitality, agriculture, real estate, and transportation. Florida is world-renowned for its beach resorts, amusement parks, warm and sunny climate, and nautical recreation; attractions such as Walt Disney World, the Kennedy Space Center, and Miami Beach draw tens of millions of visitors annually. Florida is a popular destination for retirees, seasonal vacationers, and both domestic and international migrants; it hosts nine out of the ten fastest-growing communities in the U.S. The state's close proximity to the ocean has shaped its culture, identity, and daily life; its colonial history and successive waves of migration are reflected in African, European, Indigenous, Latino, and Asian influences. Florida has attracted or inspired some of the most prominent American writers, including Ernest Hemingway, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes, especially in golf, tennis, auto racing, and water sports. Florida has been considered a battleground state in American presidential elections, particularly those in 2000 and 2016.


About two-thirds of Florida occupies a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. It has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, spanning approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km), not including its many barrier islands. Florida has 4,510 islands that are ten acres (4.0 hectares) or larger in area, the second-largest of any state after Alaska. Much of Florida is at or near sea level, and is characterized by sedimentary soil. Florida is the flattest state in the country, with the lowest high point of any U.S. state, at just 345 feet (105 meters).


Florida's climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south. It is the only state besides Hawaii to have a tropical climate, and is the only continental state with both a tropical climate, located at the southern portion of the state, and a coral reef. Florida has several unique ecosystems, including Everglades National Park, the largest tropical wilderness in the U.S. and among the largest in the Americas. Unique wildlife include the American alligator, American crocodile, American flamingo, Roseate spoonbill, Florida panther, bottlenose dolphin, and manatee. The Florida Reef is the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States, and the third-largest coral barrier reef system in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef and the Belize Barrier Reef.

Mammals: , northern river otter, mink, eastern cottontail rabbit, marsh rabbit, raccoon, striped skunk, squirrel, white-tailed deer, Key deer, bobcats, red fox, gray fox, coyote, wild boar, Florida black bear, nine-banded armadillos, Virginia opossum

Florida panther

Reptiles: and pygmy rattlesnakes, gopher tortoise, green and leatherback sea turtles,[102] brown anoles, and eastern indigo snake. In 2012, there were about one million American alligators and 1,500 crocodiles.[103]

eastern diamondback

Birds: ,[104] bald eagle, American flamingo,[105] crested caracara, snail kite, osprey, white and brown pelicans, sea gulls, whooping and sandhill cranes, roseate spoonbill, American white ibis, Florida scrub jay (state endemic), and others. One subspecies of wild turkey, Meleagris gallopavo osceola, is found only in Florida.[106] The state is a wintering location for many species of eastern North American birds.

peregrine falcon

73% English

20% Spanish

2% Haitian Creole

Other languages less than 1% each

, which spans 133 miles, bisects the state, connecting Tampa, Lakeland, Orlando, and Daytona Beach, connecting with I-75 in Tampa and I-95 in Daytona Beach.

I-4

, which spans 362 miles in Florida, traverses the panhandle, connecting Pensacola, Tallahassee, Lake City, and Jacksonville, with interchanges with I-75 in Lake City and I-95 in Jacksonville. It is the southernmost east–west interstate in the United States terminating in Santa Monica with a total length of 2460 miles.

I-10

, which spans 470 miles in Florida, enters the state near Lake City (45 miles (72 km) west of Jacksonville) and continues southward through Gainesville, Ocala, Tampa's eastern suburbs, Bradenton, Sarasota, Fort Myers and Naples, where it crosses the "Alligator Alley" as a toll road to Fort Lauderdale before turning southward and terminating in Hialeah/Miami Lakes having interchanges with I-10 in Lake City and I-4 in Tampa. It is the second longest north–south interstate with a total length of 1786 miles and terminates at the Canadian border at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

I-75

, which spans 382 miles in Florida, enters the state near Jacksonville and continues along the Atlantic Coast through Daytona Beach, the Melbourne/Titusville, Palm Bay, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce, Port Saint Lucie, Stuart, West Palm Beach, and Fort Lauderdale, before terminating in Downtown Miami. It has interchanges with I-10 in Jacksonville and I-4 in Daytona Beach, and there are four auxiliary routes associated with the interstate. It is the longest north–south interstate with a total length of 1924 miles and terminates at the Canadian border northeast of Houlton, Maine.

I-95

Index of Florida-related articles

Outline of Florida

List of people from Florida

Ships named Florida

Mahon, John K.; Brent R. Weisman (1996). "Florida's Seminole and Miccosukee Peoples". In Gannon, Michael (Ed.). The New History of Florida, pp. 183–206. University Press of Florida.  0-8130-1415-8.

ISBN

Viviana Díaz Balsera and Rachel A. May (eds.), La Florida: Five Hundred Years of Hispanic Presence. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 2014.

Dunn, Hampton., and Paul Eugen Camp. Collecting Florida: the Hampton Dunn Collection and Other Floridiana, Special Collections Department, University of South Florida Libraries. Tampa Florida: University of South Florida Libraries, 2006.

Michael Gannon (ed.), The History of Florida. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 2013.

Levine Jacki. 2023. Once Upon a Time in Florida : Stories of Life in the Land of Promises. St. Petersburg FL: Florida Humanities.

State website

at Curlie

Florida

Florida State Guide, from the Library of Congress

. Over 300,000 photographs and documents from the State Library & Archives of Florida.

Florida Memory Project

Online collection of the Spanish Land Grants

USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Florida

Florida Rivers and Watersheds—Florida DEP

U.S. Census Bureau

Economic and farm demographics fact sheet from the USDA

Energy & Environmental Data For Florida

. Florida state butterfly, on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures web site.

Heliconius charitonia, zebra longwing

TerraFly Property Value and Aerial Imagery Spatio-temporal animation Real Estate Trends in Florida

hosted by the American Library Association Government Documents Roundtable

List of searchable databases produced by Florida state agencies