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pop (2000e) 15 982 400; area 151 934 km²/58 664 sq mi. State in SE USA, divided into 67 counties; the ‘Sunshine State’ or ‘Peninsular State’; discovered and settled by the Spanish in the 16th-c; ceded to Britain in 1763, and divided into East and West Florida; given back to Spain after the War of Independence, 1783; West Florida gained by the US in the Louisiana Purchase, 1803; East Florida purchased by the US, 1819; admitted as the 27th state of the Union, 1845; seceded, 1861; slavery abolished, 1865; re-admitted to the Union, 1868; capital, Tallahassee; other chief cities, Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St Petersburg, Fort Lauderdale; a long peninsula bounded W by the Gulf of Mexico and E by the Atlantic Ocean; rivers include the St Johns, Caloosahatchee, Apalachicola, Perdido, St Marys; C state has many lakes, notably L Okeechobee (fourth largest lake wholly within the USA); highest point in Walton County (105 m/345 ft); the Florida Keys Islands stretch in a line SW from the S tip of the state, all linked by a series of causeways; the NW is a gently rolling panhandle area, cut by deep swamps along the coast; the S is almost entirely covered by the Everglades; the SE coast is protected from the Atlantic by sandbars and islands, creating shallow lagoons and sandy beaches; a warm sunny climate, but occasional danger of hurricanes (eg widespread damage caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992); many famous resorts (Palm Beach, Miami Beach); the Everglades National Park, Walt Disney World entertainment park, John F Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral; the nation's greatest producer of citrus fruits; second largest producer of vegetables; sugar cane, tobacco, cattle and dairy products; processed foods, chemicals, electrical equipment, transportation equipment, wood products; phosphate and other minerals; one of the fastest-growing parts of the country; an important area for retirement homes; large Hispanic population (especially from Cuba).

references

Florida is a U.S. state located in the southeastern United States. It was named by Juan Ponce de León, who landed on the coast on April 2, 1513, during Pascua Florida (Spanish for "Flowery Easter," referring to the Easter season).

Geography

Florida is situated mostly on a large peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Straits of Florida. It is near the countries of the Caribbean, particularly the Bahamas and Cuba.

At 345 feet (105 m) above mean sea level, Britton Hill is the highest point in Florida and the lowest highpoint of any U.S. state. Lake County holds the highest point of peninsular Florida, Sugarloaf Mountain, at 312 feet (95 m).

Areas under control by the National Park Service include:

• Big Cypress National Preserve, near Lake Okeechobee
  
• Biscayne National Park, near Key Biscayne
  
• Canaveral National Seashore, near Titusville
  
• Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, in St. Augustine
  
• De Soto National Memorial, in Bradenton
  
• Dry Tortugas National Park, at Key West
  
• Everglades National Park
  
• Fort Caroline National Memorial, at Jacksonville
  
• Fort Matanzas National Monument, in St. Augustine
  
• Gulf Islands National Seashore, near Gulf Breeze
  
• Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, in Jacksonville
  

See also List of Florida state parks

Boundaries

The state line begins in the Atlantic Ocean, traveling west, south, and north up the thalweg of the Saint Mary's River. At the origin of that river, it then follows a straight line nearly due west and slightly north, to the point where the confluence of the Flint River (from Georgia) and the Chattahoochee River (down the Alabama/Georgia line) used to form Florida's Apalachicola River. The seasons in Florida are actually determined more by precipitation than by temperature with mild to cool, relatively dry winters and autumns (the dry season) and hot, wet springs and summers (the wet season). The hottest temperature ever recorded in the state was 109 °F (43 °C), set on June 29 1931 in Monticello. The coldest was ?2 °F (?19 °C), on February 13 1899, just 25 miles (40 km) away, in Tallahassee. These thunderstorms, caused by collisions between airflow from the Gulf of Mexico and airflow from the Atlantic Ocean, pop up in the early afternoon and can bring heavy downpours, high winds, and sometimes tornadoes. The storm is believed to have been similar in composition to a hurricane, and even brought storm surges of six feet or more to regions of the Gulf coast.

Although some storms have formed out of season, hurricanes pose a threat during hurricane season, which lasts from June 1 to November 30. Hurricanes Charley (August 13), Frances (September 4?5), Ivan (September 16), and Jeanne (September 25?26) cumulatively cost the state's economy US$42 billion. Later, Hurricane Katrina (August 25) passed through South Florida and Hurricane Rita (September 20) swept through the Florida Keys. Hurricane Wilma made landfall in Florida in the early morning of October 24 as a Category 3 hurricane, with the storm's eye hitting near Cape Romano, just south of Marco Island, according to National Hurricane Center.

Florida was the site of the second costliest weather disaster in U.S. history, Hurricane Andrew, which caused more than US$25 billion in damage when it struck on August 24, 1992. In a long list of other infamous hurricane strikes are the 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.

Environmental issues

Florida is the fifth-largest producer of greenhouse gases among the 50 U.S. states. Much of Florida, being only a few feet above sea level now, would be underwater if the sea level rose dramatically due to the continued melting of glaciers, parts of the Antarctic ice shelf, or Greenland's cover of ice. Of the many indigenous people, the largest known were the Ais, the Apalachee, the Calusa, the Timucua and the Tocobago tribes. Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish conquistador, named Florida in honor of his "discovery" of the land on April 2 1513, during Pascua Florida, a Spanish term for the Easter season. French Huguenots founded Fort Caroline in modern-day Jacksonville in 1564, but this fort was conquered by forces from the new Spanish colony of St. Augustine the following year. The local leaders (caciques) demonstrated their loyalty to the Spanish by converting to Roman Catholicism and welcoming the Franciscan priests into their villages.

The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of English colonies to the north and French colonies to the west. The English weakened Spanish power in the area by supplying their Creek Indian allies with firearms and urging them to raid the Timucuan and Apalachee client-tribes of the Spanish. On March 3 1845, Florida became the 27th state of the United States of America. On January 10 1861, before the formal outbreak of the Civil War, Florida seceded from the Union; On June 25, 1868, Florida's congressional
representation was restored. font-size: 95%;">

Presidential elections results

Year	Republican	Democratic
2004	52.10%3,964,522	47.09% 3,583,544
2000	48.85%2,912,790	48.84% 2,912,253
1996	42.32% 2,244,536	48.02%2,546,870
1992	40.89%2,173,310	39.00% 2,072,698
1988	60.87%2,618,885	38.51% 1,656,701
1984	65.32%2,730,350	34.66% 1,448,816
1980	55.52%2,046,951	38.50% 1,419,475
1976	46.64% 1,469,531	51.93%1,636,000
1972	71.91%1,857,759	27.80% 718,117
1968	40.53%886,804	30.93% 676,794
1964	48.85% 905,941	51.15%948,540
1960	51.51%795,476	48.49% 748,700

The basic structure, duties, function, and operations of the government of the State of Florida are defined and established by the Florida Constitution, which establishes the basic law of the state and guarantees various rights and freedoms of the people. The legislature enacts bills, which, if signed by the governor, become Florida Statutes.

The Florida Legislature is comprised of the Florida Senate, which has 40 members, and the Florida House of Representatives, which has 120 members. The current Governor of Florida is Republican Jeb Bush, brother of U.S. President George W. The Tampa area, once a major center of Democratic union support, is now almost evenly split between registered Republicans and Democrats, making it part of the important I-4 Corridor swing region. The Walt Disney World Resort, a mega-resort consisting of four theme parks, more than twenty hotels, water parks, shopping centers, and other attractions, is an important tourist attraction located in Lake Buena Vista. Together, Walt Disney World, and other theme park resorts such as Universal Orlando Resort and SeaWorld, are an important driver of the Central Florida economy.

Other major industries include citrus fruit and juice production, banking, and phosphate mining within the Bone Valley region. The state did not have a state minimum wage law until November 2, 2004, when voters passed a constitutional amendment establishing a state minimum wage and mandating that it be adjusted for inflation every six months.

Historically, Florida's economy was based upon cattle farming and agriculture (especially sugarcane, citrus, tomatoes, and strawberries). font-size: 95%;">

Historical populations
Census year	Population
1830	34,730
1840	54,477
1850	87,445
1860	140,424
1870	187,748
1880	269,493
1890	391,422
1900	528,542
1910	752,619
1920	968,470
1930	1,468,211
1940	1,897,414
1950	2,771,305
1960	4,951,560
1970	6,789,443
1980	9,746,324
1990	12,937,926
2000	15,982,378

Race and ancestry

The largest reported ancestries in the 2000 Census were German (11.8%), Irish (10.3%), English (9.2%), American (8%) and Italian (6.3%).factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=&_cityTown=&_state=04000US12&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010

Before the American Civil War, when slavery was legal, and during the Reconstruction era that followed, African Americans made up nearly half of the state's population.fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/Historical Census Broswer at the University of Virginia (URL accessed 26 August 2006). Their proportion declined over the next century, as many moved north in the Great Migration while large numbers of northern whites moved to the state. Today, large concentrations of black residents can be found in northern Florida (notably in Jacksonville, Gainesville and Pensacola), the Tampa Bay area, and South Florida (where their numbers have been bolstered by significant immigration from Haiti and Jamaica).

Florida's Hispanic population includes large communities of Cuban Americans in Miami and Tampa, Puerto Ricans in Tampa and Orlando, and Central American migrant workers in inland West-Central and South Florida. The Hispanic community continues to grow more affluent and mobile: between the years of 2000 and 2004, Lee County in southwest Florida, which is largely suburban in character, had the fastest Hispanic population growth rate of any county in the United States.www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060309/NEWS01/603090396/1075

Whites of all ethnicities are present in all areas of the state. There is a large German population in Southwest Florida, a sizeable and historic Italian community in the Miami area, and white Floridians of longer-present generations in the culturally southern areas of inland and northern Florida. Haitian Creole is the third most spoken language at 2.2 percent, followed by German at 0.6 percent and Italian at 0.4 percent.

Article II, Section 9, of the Florida Constitution provides that "English is the official language of the State of Florida." Florida's current religious affiliations are shown in the table below:

• 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%
  

Education

Florida's public primary and secondary schools are administered by the Florida Department of Education.

Florida's public-school revenue per student and spending per $1000 of personal income usually rank in the bottom 25 percent of U.S. states. Governor Jeb Bush has been criticized by many Florida educators for a program that penalizes underperforming schools (as indicated by standardized tests, most prominently the FCAT) with fewer funding dollars. ^{www.sptimes.com/News/050801/State/Bush_s_trustees_mostl.shtml} In 2002, former governor and then U.S. Senator Bob Graham (Dem.) led a constitutional-amendment ballot referendum designed to restore the board-of-regents system. -->

Transportation

Highways

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

Florida's interstate highway system contains 1,473 miles (2,371 km) of highway, and there are 9,934 miles (15,987 km) of non-interstate highway in the state, such as Florida state highways and U.S. Highways.

Florida's primary interstate routes include:

• I-4, which bisects the state, connecting Tampa, Lakeland, Orlando, and Daytona Beach, having junctions with I-95 at Daytona Beach and I-75 at Tampa.
  
• I-10, which traverses the panhandle, connecting Jacksonville, Lake City, Tallahassee and Pensacola, having junctions with I-95 at Jacksonville and I-75 at Lake City.
  
• I-75, which enters the state near Lake City (45 miles west of Jacksonville) and continues southward through Gainesville, Ocala, Tampa's eastern suburbs, Bradenton, Sarasota, and Fort Myers to Naples, where it crosses the "Alligator Alley" as a toll road to Fort Lauderdale before turning southward and terminating in Hialeah/Miami Lakes having junctions with I-10 at Lake City and I-4 at Tampa.
  
• I-95, which enters the state near Jacksonville and continues along the Atlantic Coast through Daytona Beach, Melbourne/Titusville, Palm Bay, Vero Beach, Fort Pierce, Port Saint Lucie, Stuart, West Palm Beach, and Ft. Lauderdale before terminating in Miami, having junctions with I-10 at Jacksonville and I-4 at Daytona Beach.
  

Florida's secondary interstate routes include:

• I-110, a spur from I-10 into downtown Pensacola.
  
• I-175, which connects I-275 to southern downtown St. Petersburg.
  
• I-195, an extension of Miami's Airport Expressway (S.R. a spur eastward from I-95 to Miami Beach.
  
• I-275, a sixty-mile (100 km)www.kurumi.com/roads/3di/i275.html westward loop from I-75 north of Ellenton, over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, through St. Petersburg, to Tampa International Airport and downtown Tampa, reconnecting with I-75 in Tampa's northern suburbs.
  
• I-295, a partial beltway around Jacksonville that will loop completely around the city by 2007.
  
• I-375, which connects I-275 to northern downtown St. Petersburg.
  
• I-395, an extension of Miami's Dolphin Expressway (S.R. a spur eastward from I-95 to Miami Beach.
  
• I-595, which connects I-75, I-95, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Port Everglades.
  

Florida has several toll roads, totaling 515 miles (830 km) of the state highway system. Major toll roads include:

• I-75, as it passes through the Everglades between Naples and Fort Lauderdale has been grandfathered as a toll road from its original construction as S.R. 84
  
• Florida's Turnpike, which begins at Interstate 75 south of Ocala and continues southeast through Orlando, Port Saint Lucie, and south through the western suburbs of Fort Lauderdale and Miami to Homestead
  

For more information about the myriad secondary toll expressways in Florida, see articles detailing roads maintained by the Florida Turnpike Authority, the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, and the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority.

Intercity rail

In 2000, voters approved a constitutional amendment to construct a high-speed rail system to interconnect Florida's major cities. The Florida High Speed Rail Authority, originally formed to implement the high-speed-rail amendment, has vowed to find a way to implement the system without the amendment.

Amtrak service exists in Florida: Sanford, in Greater Orlando, is the southern terminus of the Amtrak Auto Train, which originates at Lorton, Virginia, south of Washington, DC. Orlando is also the eastern terminus of the Sunset Limited, which travels across the southern United States via New Orleans, Houston, and San Antonio to its western terminus of Los Angeles. Florida is served by two additional Amtrak trains (the Silver Star and the Silver Meteor), which operate between New York City and Miami. Miami has an automated guideway people-mover system, as well as a 22-mile metro system, and most cities have bus service.

Airports

Florida's major international airports, which processed more than 15 million passengers in 2005, are Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (22,390,285), Miami International Airport (31,008,453), Orlando International Airport (34,128,048) and Tampa International Airport (19,045,390).

Secondary airports, with annual passenger traffic exceeding 5 million in 2005, include Jacksonville International Airport (5,741,652), Palm Beach International Airport (West Palm Beach) (7,014,237) and Southwest Florida International Airport (Fort Myers) (7,518,169).

Other smaller, regional airports with commercial service (with passengers served in 2005, where available) include those at Daytona Beach (615,841), Fort Walton Beach, Gainesville (345,788), Key West, Melbourne (466,367) ,Naples, Panama City (382,551), Pensacola (1,638,605), Sarasota-Bradenton (1,337,571), St. Petersburg-Clearwater (596,510) and Tallahassee (1,129,947). Sanford (1,649,237) is primarily served by international charter airlines.2005 North America Airports Traffic Statistics URL retrieved September 15, 2006

Metropolitan areas

Florida has nineteen Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

	Metropolitan Statistical Areas	2005 Population
	Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area	549,442
	Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area	494,649
	Fort Walton Beach-Crestview-Destin Metropolitan Statistical Area	188,939
	Gainesville Metropolitan Statistical Area	256,985
	Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area	1,277,763
	Lakeland Metropolitan Statistical Area	541,840
	Miami-Ft.Lauderdale-West Palm Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area	5,422,200
	Naples-Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area	317,788
	Ocala Metropolitan Statistical Area	304,926
	Orlando-Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area	1,861,707
	Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area	531,970
	Panama City-Lynn Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area	161,721
	Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area	439,877
	Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce Metropolitan Statistical Area	381,033
	Punta Gorda Metropolitan Statistical Area	154,030
	Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice Metropolitan Statistical Area	673,035
	Sebastian-Vero Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area	130,043
	Tallahassee Metropolitan Statistical Area	334,886
	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area	2,589,637

Important cities and towns

City Population > 700,000 Jacksonville City Population > 300,000 Miami Tampa City Population > 200,000 Hialeah Orlando St. Petersburg City Population > 100,000 Cape Coral Clearwater Coral Springs Fort Lauderdale Gainesville Hollywood Miami Gardens Pembroke Pines Miramar Palm Bay Port Saint Lucie Pompano Beach Tallahassee City Population > 75,000 Boca Raton Brandon Davie Deltona Kendall Lakeland Melbourne Miami Beach Plantation Sunrise West Palm Beach

City Population > 50,000 Boynton Beach Bradenton Daytona Beach Deerfield Beach Delray Beach Fort Myers Fountainbleau Kendale Lakes Kissimmee Largo Lauderhill Margate North Miami North Miami Beach Palm Coast Palm Harbor Pensacola Sarasota Spring Hill Tamarac Tamiami Town 'n' Country Weston City Population > 25,000 Altamonte Springs Aventura Apopka Bartow Bonita Springs Coconut Creek Cooper City Coral Gables De Land Dunedin

East Lake Egypt Lake-Leto Fort Pierce Greater Carrollwood Greenacres Hallandale Beach Homestead Jupiter Kendall West Key West Lake Magdalene Lake Worth Lauderdale Lakes Lehigh Acres North Fort Myers North Lauderdale Ocala Ocoee Oakland Park Ormond Beach Oviedo Palm Beach Gardens Panama City Pinellas Park Plant City Port Orange Port Charlotte Riviera Beach Royal Palm Beach Sanford South Fort Myers Titusville University Wellington Westchester Winter Haven Winter Park Winter Springs

Professional sports teams

Club	Sport	League
Jacksonville Jaguars	Football	National Football League
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Football	National Football League
Miami Dolphins	Football	National Football League
Orlando Magic	Basketball	National Basketball Association
Miami Heat	Basketball	National Basketball Association
Tampa Bay Lightning	Ice hockey	National Hockey League
Florida Panthers	Ice hockey	National Hockey League
Tampa Bay Devil Rays	Baseball	Major League Baseball
Florida Marlins	Baseball	Major League Baseball
Orlando Predators	Arena football	Arena Football League
Tampa Bay Storm	Arena football	Arena Football League
Brevard County Manatees	Baseball	Minor League BaseballFlorida State League
Clearwater Threshers	Baseball	Minor League BaseballFlorida State League
Daytona Cubs	Baseball	Minor League BaseballFlorida State League
Dunedin Blue Jays	Baseball	Minor League BaseballFlorida State League
Fort Myers Miracle	Baseball	Minor League BaseballFlorida State League
Jacksonville Suns	Baseball	Minor League Baseball
Jupiter Hammerheads	Baseball	Minor League BaseballFlorida State League
Lakeland Tigers	Baseball	Minor League BaseballFlorida State League
Sarasota Reds	Baseball	Minor League BaseballFlorida State League
St. Lucie Mets	Baseball	Minor League BaseballFlorida State League
Tampa Yankees	Baseball	Minor League BaseballFlorida State League
Palm Beach Cardinals	Baseball	Minor League BaseballFlorida State League
Vero Beach Dodgers	Baseball	Minor League BaseballFlorida State League
Miami FC	Soccer	USL First Division
Ajax Orlando Prospects	Soccer	USL Premier Development League
Bradenton Academics	Soccer	USL Premier Development League
Central Florida Kraze	Soccer	USL Premier Development League
Cocoa Expos	Soccer	USL Premier Development League
Palm Beach Pumas	Soccer	USL Premier Development League
Bradenton Athletics	Soccer	W-League
Central Florida Krush	Soccer	W-League
Cocoa Expos	Soccer	W-League
Central Florida Strikers	Soccer	Women?s Premier Soccer League
Miami Surf	Soccer	Women?s Premier Soccer League
Orlando Falcons	Soccer	Women?s Premier Soccer League
Palm Beach United	Soccer	Women?s Premier Soccer League
South Florida Breeze	Soccer	Women?s Premier Soccer League
Tampa Bay United	Soccer	Women?s Premier Soccer League
Florida Everblades	Ice hockey	East Coast Hockey League
Florida Seals	Ice hockey	Southern Professional Hockey League
Jacksonville Barracudas	Ice hockey	Southern Professional Hockey League
Pensacola Ice Pilots	Ice hockey	East Coast Hockey League
Orlando, Florida (Name TBA)	Basketball	American Basketball Association
Palm Beach Imperials	Basketball	American Basketball Association
Pensacola Aviators	Basketball	American Basketball Association
Jacksonville Jam	Basketball	American Basketball Association
Tampa Bay Strong Dogs	Basketball	American Basketball Association

Spring training

Florida is the traditional home for Major League Baseball spring training, with teams informally organized into the "Grapefruit League." As of 2004, Florida hosts the following major league teams for spring training:

Club	Location
Atlanta Braves	Walt Disney World
Baltimore Orioles	Fort Lauderdale