History of Florida
Encyclopedia
The history of Florida can be traced back to when the first Native Americans began to inhabit the peninsula as early as 14,000 years ago. Recorded history begins with the arrival of Europeans to Florida, beginning with the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León
, who explored the area in 1513. Since that time Florida has had a long history of immigration, including French and Spanish settlement during the 16th century, as well as entry of new Native American groups migrating from elsewhere in the South. Florida was under colonial rule by Spain
and Great Britain
during the 18th and 19th centuries before becoming a territory in 1822 of the United States. Two decades later, in 1845, Florida was admitted to the union as the 27th US state.
Florida is nicknamed the "Sunshine State" due to its generally warm climate
, which has fostered developments and attracted migrants throughout the state's history. Particularly in the 20th and 21st centuries, a diverse population and urbanized economy have developed. As of 2008, the United States Census Bureau
estimates that the state population was 18,328,340, ranking Florida as the fourth most populous state in the U.S.
The first land animals entered Florida approximately 24.8 million years ago. Prior to that time, Florida was Orange Island
, a low-relief island sitting atop the carbonate Florida Platform
. Paleo-Indians entered what is now Florida at least 14,000 years ago. Due to the large amount of water locked up in glacier
s during the Wisconsin glaciation
, the sea level may have been 100 metres (more than 300 feet) lower than present levels. As a result, the Florida peninsula had a land area about twice what it is today. Florida also had a drier and cooler climate than in more recent times. There were few flowing rivers or wetland
s. Across large areas of Florida, fresh water was available only in sinkhole
s and limestone
catchment basins. As a result, most paleo-Indian activity was around the watering holes. Sinkholes and basins in the beds of modern rivers (such as the Page-Ladson prehistory site
in the Aucilla River
) have yielded a rich trove of paleo-Indian artifacts
, including Clovis point
s.
Excavations at an ancient stone quarry
(the Container Corporation of America site in Marion County
) yielded "crude stone implements" showing signs of extensive wear from deposits below those holding Paleo-Indian artifacts. Thermoluminescence dating
and weathering
analysis independently gave dates of 26,000 to 28,000 years ago for the creation of the artifacts. The findings are controversial, and funding has not been available for follow-up studies.
As the glaciers began retreating about 8000 BC, the climate of Florida became warmer and wetter, and the sea level rose. The paleo-Indian culture was replaced by, or evolved into, the Early Archaic culture. With an increase in population and more water available, the people occupied many more locations, as evidenced by numerous artifacts. Archaeologists have learned much about the Early Archaic people of Florida from the spectacular discoveries made at Windover Pond
. The Early Archaic period evolved into the Middle Archaic period around 5000 BC. People started living in villages near wetlands and favored sites that were likely occupied for multiple generations.
The Late Archaic period started about 3000 BC, when Florida's climate had reached current conditions and the sea had risen close to its present level. People commonly occupied both fresh and saltwater wetlands. Large shell middens accumulated during this period. Many people lived in large villages with purpose-built earthwork
mound
s, such as at Horr's Island
, which had the largest permanently occupied community in the Archaic period in the southeastern United States. It also has the oldest burial mound in the East, dating to about 1450 BC. People began creating fired pottery in Florida by 2000 BC. By about 500 BC, the Archaic culture, which had been fairly uniform across Florida, began to fragment into regional cultures.
The post-Archaic cultures of eastern and southern Florida developed in relative isolation. It is likely that the peoples living in those areas at the time of first European contact were direct descendants of the inhabitants of the areas in late Archaic times. The cultures of the Florida panhandle and the north and central Gulf
coast of the Florida peninsula were strongly influenced by the Mississippian culture
. Continuity in cultural history suggests that the peoples of those areas were also descended from the inhabitants of the Archaic period. In the panhandle and the northern part of the peninsula, people adopted cultivation of maize. Its cultivation was restricted or absent among the tribes who lived south of the Timucuan
-speaking people (i.e., south of a line approximately from present-day Daytona Beach, Florida
to a point on or north of Tampa Bay.) Peoples in southern Florida depended on the rich estuarine environment and developed a highly complex society without agriculture.
At the time of first European contact, Florida was inhabited by an estimated 350,000 people belonging to a number of tribes. The Spanish recorded nearly one hundred names of groups they encountered, ranging from organized political entities such as the Apalachee
, with a population of around 50,000, to villages with no known political affiliation. There were an estimated 150,000 speakers of dialects of the Timucua language
, but the Timucua
were only organized as groups of villages and did not share a common culture.
Other tribes in Florida at the time of first contact included the Ais
, Calusa
, Jaega
, Mayaimi
, Tequesta
and Tocobaga
. What we know of these tribes are from what was written about them by early explorers such as Alvaro Mexia
. The populations of all of these tribes decreased markedly during the period of Spanish control of Florida, mostly due to epidemics of newly introduced infectious diseases, to which the Native Americans had no natural immunity
.
At the beginning of the 18th century, when the indigenous
peoples were already much reduced in populations, tribes from areas to the north of Florida, supplied with arms and occasionally accompanied by white colonists from the Province of Carolina
, raided throughout Florida. They burned villages, wounded many of the inhabitants and carried captives back to Charles Towne
to be sold into slavery
. Most of the villages in Florida were abandoned and the survivors sought refuge at St. Augustine
or in isolated spots around the state. Many tribes became extinct during this period and by the end of the 18th century.
Some of the Apalachee eventually reached Louisiana, where they survived as a distinct group for at least another century. The Spanish evacuated the few surviving members of the Florida tribes to Cuba
in 1763 when Spain transferred the territory of Florida to the British Empire
following the latter's victory in the Seven Years War. In the aftermath, the Seminole
, originally an offshoot of the Creek people
who absorbed other groups, developed as a distinct tribe in Florida during the 18th century through the process of ethnogenesis
. They are now represented in the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
, the Seminole Tribe of Florida
, and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.
Juan Ponce de Leon discovered Florida. A legend, unlikely to be true, says he discovered it while searching for the Fountain of Youth
. Although it is often stated that he sighted the peninsula for the first time on March 27, 1513, and thought it was an island, he probably saw one of the Bahama islands. It the Spanish custom to name a place after the nearest Roman Catholic feast. He arrived on the east coast during the Spanish Easter feast, Pascua Florida
, April 7. He named the land La Pascua de la Florida, or "Passion of the Flowers," or "Passion of the Christ"
Ponce de León returned with equipment and settlers to start a colony in 1521, but they were driven off by repeated attacks from the native population. Pánfilo de Narváez
's expedition explored Florida's west coast in 1528 but was lost at sea upon his attempted seaward escape to Mexico. Hernando de Soto's
entered Florida in 1539. In 1559 Tristán de Luna y Arellano
established a brief settlement in Pensacola
but after a violent hurricane destroyed the area it was abandoned in 1561.
René Goulaine de Laudonnière
founded Fort Caroline
in what is now Jacksonville
in 1564 as a haven for the Huguenot
s. Further down the coast the Spanish founded in 1565 by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
, San Agustín (St. Augustine
) is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in any U.S. state; it is second oldest only to San Juan, Puerto Rico
in the United States' current territory. From this base of operations, the Spanish began building Catholic missions
.
On September 20, 1565, Menéndez de Avilés attacked Fort Caroline, killing most of the French Huguenot soldiers defending it. Two years later, Dominique de Gourgues recaptured the settlement from the Spanish and slaughtered all of the Spanish defenders.
St. Augustine became the most important settlement in Florida. It was little more than a fortress for many years, and was frequently attacked and burned, with most residents killed or fled. It was notably devastated in 1586, when English sea captain and sometime pirate Sir Francis Drake
plundered and burned the city. Catholic missionaries used St. Augustine as a base of operations to establish far-flung missions. They converted 26,000 natives by 1655, but a revolt in 1656 and an epidemic in 1659 proved devastating. Pirate attacks were unrelenting against small outposts and even St. Augustine itself.
Throughout the 17th century, English settlers in Virginia
and the Carolinas gradually pushed the boundaries of Spanish territory south, while the French settlements along the Mississippi River
encroached on the western borders of the Spanish claim. In 1702, English Colonel James Moore
and allied Yamasee
and Creek Indians
attacked and razed the town of St. Augustine, but they could not gain control of the fort. In 1704, Moore and his soldiers began burning Spanish missions in north Florida and executing Indians friendly with the Spanish. The collapse of the Spanish mission system and the defeat of the Spanish-allied Apalachee
Indians (the Apalachee massacre
) opened Florida up to slave raids
, which reached to the Florida Keys and decimated the native population. The Yamasee War
of 1715–1717 resulted in numerous Indian refugees, such as the Yamasee, moving south to Florida. In 1719, the French captured the Spanish settlement at Pensacola.
The British and their colonies made war repeatedly against the Spanish, especially in 1702, and captured St Augustine in 1740. The British were angry that Spanish Florida was attracting a large number of Africans and African Americans in North America who sought freedom from British slavery. The slaves that could escape, once they made it to Florida, were given freedom after they converted to Catholicism. They settled in a buffer community north of St. Augustine, called Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose
, the first settlement made of free slaves in North America.
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake
triggered a tsunami that would have struck Central Florida with an estimated 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) wave.
Creek and Seminole Native Americans who had established buffer settlements in Florida at the invitation of the Spanish government also welcomed many of those slaves. In 1771, Governor John Moultrie wrote to the English Board of Trade that “It has been a practice for a good while past, for negroes to run away from their Masters, and get into the Indian towns, from whence it proved very difficult to get them back.” When British government officials pressured the Seminoles to return runaway slaves, they replied that they had "merely given hungry people food, and invited the slaveholders to catch the runaways themselves."
In 1763, Spain traded Florida to the Kingdom of Great Britain
for control of Havana
, Cuba, which had been captured by the British during the Seven Years' War
. It was part of a large expansion of British territory following the country's victory in the Seven Years War
. Almost the entire Spanish population left, taking along most of the remaining indigenous population to Cuba. The British divided the territory into East Florida
and West Florida
. They began aggressive recruitment programs designed to attract settlers to the area, offering free land and backing for export-oriented businesses.
East Florida was the site of the largest single importation of white settlers in the colonial period; Dr Andrew Turnbull
transplanted around 1,500 indentured settlers, from Minorca
, Majorca, Ibiza
, Smyrna
, Crete
, Mani Peninsula
, and Sicily
, to grow hemp
, sugarcane
, indigo
, and to produce rum
. Settled at New Smyrna
, within months the colony suffered major losses primarily due to insect-borne diseases and Native American raids. Most crops did not do well in the sandy Florida soil. Those that survived rarely equaled the quality produced in other colonies. The colonists tired of their servitude and Turnbull's rule. On several occasions, he used African slaves to whip his unruly settlers. The settlement collapsed and the survivors fled to safety with the British authorities in St. Augustine. Their descendants survive to this day, as does the name New Smyrna.
In 1767, the British moved the northern boundary of West Florida to a line extending from the mouth of the Yazoo River
east to the Chattahoochee River
(32° 28′north latitude), consisting of approximately the lower third of the present states of Mississippi
and Alabama
. During this time, Creek Indians migrated into Florida and formed the Seminole tribe.
The two Floridas remained loyal to Great Britain throughout the American Revolutionary War
. However, Spain (participating indirectly in the war as an ally of France) captured Pensacola
from the British in 1781. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris
ended the Revolutionary War and returned all of Florida to Spanish control, but without specifying the boundaries. The Spanish wanted the expanded boundary, while the new United States demanded the old boundary at the 31st parallel north
. In the Treaty of San Lorenzo of 1795, Spain recognized the 31st parallel as the boundary.
on September 23. After meetings beginning in June, rebels overcame the Spanish garrison at Baton Rouge
(now in Louisiana
), and unfurled the flag of the new republic: a single white star on a blue field. This flag would later become known as the "Bonnie Blue Flag
".
In 1810, parts of West Florida were annexed by proclamation of President James Madison
, who claimed the region as part of the Louisiana Purchase
. These parts were incorporated into the newly formed Territory of Orleans. The U.S. annexed the Mobile District of West Florida to the Mississippi Territory
in 1812. Spain continued to dispute the area, though the United States gradually increased the area it occupied.
Seminole
Indians based in East Florida
began raiding Georgia settlements, and offering havens for runaway slaves. The United States Army
led increasingly frequent incursions into Spanish territory, including the 1817–1818 campaign against the Seminole Indians by Andrew Jackson
that became known as the First Seminole War. The United States now effectively controlled East Florida. Control was necessary according to Secretary of State John Quincy Adams
because Florida had become "a derelict open to the occupancy of every enemy, civilized or savage, of the United States, and serving no other earthly purpose than as a post of annoyance to them.". Florida had become a burden to Spain, which could not afford to send settlers or garrisons. Madrid therefore decided to cede the territory to the United States through the Adams-Onís Treaty
, which took effect in 1821.
Florida
became an organized territory of the United States on March 30, 1822. The Americans merged East Florida
and West Florida
(although the majority of West Florida was annexed to Territory of Orleans and Mississippi Territory
), and established a new capital in Tallahassee
, conveniently located halfway between the East Florida capital of St. Augustine and the West Florida capital of Pensacola. The boundaries of Florida's first two counties, Escambia
and St. Johns
, approximately coincided with the boundaries of West and East Florida respectively.
As settlement increased, pressure grew on the United States government to remove the Indians from their lands in Florida. Many settlers in Florida developed plantation agriculture, similar to other areas of the Deep South. To the consternation of new landowners, the Seminoles harbored and integrated runaway blacks
, and clashes between whites and Indians grew with the influx of new settlers. In 1832, the United States government signed the Treaty of Payne's Landing
with some of the Seminole chiefs, promising them lands west of the Mississippi River if they agreed to leave Florida voluntarily. Many Seminoles left then, while those who remained prepared to defend their claims to the land. White settlers pressured the government to remove all of the Indians, by force if necessary, and in 1835, the U.S. Army arrived to enforce the treaty.
The Second Seminole War
began at the end of 1835 with the Dade Massacre
, when Seminoles ambushed Army troops marching from Fort Brooke
(Tampa) to reinforce Fort King
(Ocala). They killed or mortally wounded all but one of the 110 troops. Between 900 and 1,500 Seminole warriors effectively employed guerrilla tactics against United States Army troops for seven years. Osceola
, a charismatic young war leader, came to symbolize the war and the Seminoles after he was arrested by Brigadier General Joseph Marion Hernandez
while negotiating under a white truce flag in October 1837, by order of General Thomas Jesup
. First imprisoned at Fort Marion, he died of malaria
at Fort Moultrie in South Carolina
less than three months after his capture. The war ended in 1842. The U.S. government is estimated to have spent between $20 million ($ in dollars) and $40 million ($ in dollars) on the war, at the time, this was considered a large sum. Almost all of the Seminoles were forcibly exiled to Creek lands west of the Mississippi; about 300 remained in the Everglades
.
On March 3, 1845, Florida became the 27th state of the United States of America. Its first governor was William Dunn Moseley
.
Almost half the state's population were enslaved African Americans working on large cotton and sugar plantations. Like the people who held them, many slaves had come from the coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas. They were part of the Gullah
-Gee Chee culture of the Low Country. Others were enslaved African Americans from the Upper South who had been sold to traders taking slaves to the Deep South.
In the 1850s, white settlers were again encroaching on lands used by Seminoles. The United States government decided to make another attempt to move the remaining Seminoles to the West. Increased Army patrols led to hostilities. The Third Seminole War lasted from 1855 to 1858. At its end, US forces estimated only 100 Seminoles were left in Florida. In 1859, 75 Seminoles surrendered and were sent to the West, but some Seminoles continued to live in the Everglades.
On the eve of the Civil War, Florida had the smallest population of the Southern states. It was invested in plantation agriculture. By 1860, Florida had only 140,424 people, of whom 44% were enslaved. There were fewer than 1,000 free people of color before the Civil War.
Following Abraham Lincoln
's election in 1860, Florida joined other Southern states in seceding from the Union
. Secession
took place January 10, 1861, and, after less than a month as an independent republic, Florida became one of the founding members of the Confederate States of America
. As Florida was an important supply route for the Confederate Army
, Union forces operated a blockade around the entire state. Union troops occupied major ports such as Cedar Key
, Jacksonville
, Key West
, and Pensacola. Though numerous skirmishes occurred in Florida, including the Battle of Natural Bridge
, the Battle of Marianna
and the Battle of Gainesville
, the only major battle was the Battle of Olustee
near Lake City
.
A state convention was held in 1865 to rewrite the constitution. After meeting the requirements of Reconstruction, including ratifying amendments to the US Constitution
, Florida was readmitted to the United States on July 25, 1868. This did not end the struggle for political power among groups in the state. Southern whites objected to freedmen's political participation and complained of illiterate representatives to the state legislature. But of the six members who could not read or write during the seven years of Republican rule, four were white.
After Reconstruction, conservative white Democrats strove for political power until they regained it in 1877. This was accomplished partly through violent actions by white paramilitary groups targeting freedmen and their allies to discourage them from voting. From 1885 to 1889, after regaining power, the white-dominated state legislature passed statutes to reduce voting by blacks and poor whites, which had threatened white Democratic power with a populist coalition. As these groups were stripped from voter rolls, white Democrats established power in a one-party state, as happened across the South.
By 1900 the state's African Americans numbered more than 200,000; 44 percent of the total population. This was the same proportion as before the Civil War, and they were effectively disfranchised. Not being able to vote meant they could not sit on juries, and were not elected to local, state or federal offices. They were not recruited for law enforcement or other government positions. White Democrats proceeded to pass Jim Crow legislation
establishing racial segregation in public facilities and transportation. Without political representation, African Americans were shortchanged in the state. For more than six decades, white Democrats controlled virtually all the state's seats in Congress, which were apportioned based on the total population of the state rather than only on those voting.
and the land bust, Florida kept afloat with federal relief money under the Roosevelt Administration.
Florida's economy did not fully recover until the buildup for World War II. The climate, tempered by the growing availability of air conditioning
, and low cost of living made the state a haven. Migration from the Rust Belt
and the Northeast sharply increased the population after the war. In recent decades, more migrants have come for the jobs in a developing economy. With a population of more than 18 million according to the 2010 census, Florida is the most populous state in the Southeastern United States, the second most populous state in the South behind Texas, and the fourth most populous in the United States.
After World War I, there was a rise in lynchings and other racial violence directed by whites against blacks in the state, as well as across the South and in northern cities. It was due in part from strains of rapid social and economic changes, as well as competition for jobs. Whites continued to resort to lynchings to keep dominance, and tensions rose. White mobs committed murders, accompanied by wholesale destruction of black houses, churches and schools, in the small communities of Ocoee
, November 1920; Perry
in December 1922; and Rosewood
in January 1923. The governor appointed a special grand jury and special prosecuting attorney to investigate Rosewood and Levy County, but the jury did not find sufficient evidence to prosecute. Rosewood was never resettled.
To escape segregation, lynchings, and civil right suppression, 40,000 African Americans migrated from Florida to northern cities in the Great Migration
from 1910–1940. That was one-fifth of their population in 1900. They sought better lives, including decent-paying jobs, better education for their children, and the chance to vote and participate in political life. Many were recruited for jobs with the Pennsylvania Railroad
.
. Investors of all kinds, mostly from outside Florida, raced to buy and sell rapidly appreciating land in newly plat
ted communities such as Miami and Palm Beach. Led by entrepreneurs Carl Fisher and George Merrick, Miami was transformed by land speculation and ambitious building projects into an emerging metropolis. A growing awareness in the North about the attractive south Florida winter climate, along with local promotion of speculative investing, spurred the boom. A majority of the people who bought land in Florida were able to do so without stepping foot in the state, by hiring intermediaries. By 1924, the main issues in state elections were how to attract more industry and the need to build and maintain good roads for tourists.
By 1925, the market ran out of buyers to pay the high prices, and soon the boom became a bust. The 1926 Miami Hurricane
further depressed the real estate market.
had been popular in north Florida, but was opposed in the south, which became a haven for speakeasies and rum-runners in the 1920s. During 1928–32 a broad coalition of judges, lawyers, politicians, journalists, brewers, hoteliers, retailers, and ordinary Floridians organized to try to repeal the ban on alcohol. When the federal government legalized near beer and light wine in 1933, the wet coalition launched a successful campaign to legalize these beverages at the state level. Floridians subsequently joined in the national campaign to repeal the 18th Amendment, which succeeded in December 1933. The following November, state voters repealed Florida's constitutional ban on liquor and gave local governments the power to legalize or outlaw alcoholic beverages.
occurred in 1929. By that time, the economy had already declined in much of Florida from the collapse four years earlier of the land boom.
The New Deal
(1933–40) changed and reaffirmed the physical and environmental landscape of south Florida. Sewers, roads and schools were built by the Works Progress Administration
(WPA
). There were work camps for the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps
(CCC).
Anticipating war, the Army and Navy decided to use the state as a primary training area. The Navy chose the coastal areas, the Army, the inland areas.
In 1940, the population was about 1.5 million. Average annual income was $308 ($ in dollars).
During the late 19th century, Florida became a popular tourist destination as Henry Flagler's railroads expanded into the area. Railroad magnate Henry Plant built at Tampa
the luxurious Tampa Bay Hotel, which later became the campus for the University of Tampa
. Flagler built the Florida East Coast Railway
from Jacksonville
to Key West
. Along the route he provided for his passengers grand accommodations, including The Ponce de León Hotel
in St. Augustine, The Ormond Hotel
in Ormond Beach
, The Royal Poinciana Hotel
and The Breakers Hotel
in Palm Beach
, and The Royal Palm Hotel
in Miami.
In February 1888, Florida had a special tourist: President Grover Cleveland
, the first lady and his party visited Florida for a couple of days. He visited the Subtropical Exposition in Jacksonville where he made a speech supporting tourism to the state; then, he took a train to St. Augustine, meeting Henry Flagler; and then a train to Titusville
, where he boarded a steamboat and visited Rockledge. On his return trip, he visited Sanford
and Winter Park
.
Florida's first theme parks emerged in the 1930s and included Cypress Gardens
(1936) near Winter Haven
and Marineland (1938) near St. Augustine.
The Orlando
area became an international resort and convention destination with a wide variety of themed parks. The Orlando area features theme parks including Universal Orlando Resort
, SeaWorld
, and Wet 'n Wild
.
In the years leading up to World War II, 100 ships were sunk off the coast of Florida. More more sunk after the country entered the war.
The state became a major hub for the United States Armed Forces
. Naval Air Station Pensacola
was originally established as a naval station in 1826 and became the first American naval aviation facility in 1917. The entire nation mobilized for World War II and many bases were established in Florida, including Naval Air Station Jacksonville
, Naval Station Mayport
, Naval Air Station Cecil Field
, Naval Air Station Whiting Field
and Homestead Air Force Base. Eglin Air Force Base
and MacDill Air Force Base
(now the home of U.S. Central Command) were also developed during this time. During the Cold War
, Florida's coastal access and proximity to Cuba encouraged the development of these and other military facilities. Since the end of the Cold War, the military has closed some facilities, including major bases at Homestead and Cecil Field, but its presence is still significant in the economy.
Due to the low latitude of the state, it was chosen in 1949 as a test site for the country's nascent missile program. Patrick Air Force Base
and the Cape Canaveral
launch site began to take shape as the 1950s progressed. By the early 1960s, the Space Race
was in full swing. As programs were expanded and employees joined, the space program generated a huge boom in the communities around Cape Canaveral. This area is now collectively known as the Space Coast
and features the Kennedy Space Center
. It is also a major center of the aerospace industry
. To date, all manned orbital spaceflights launched by the United States, including the only men to visit the Moon
, have been launched from Kennedy Space Center.
Florida's populations have been rapidly changing. After World War II, Florida was transformed as air conditioning
and the Interstate highway system encouraged emigration from the north. In 1950, Florida was ranked twentieth among the states in population; 50 years later it was ranked fourth. Due to low tax rates and warm climate, Florida became the destination for many retirees from the Northeast, Midwest and Canada.
The Cuban Revolution
of 1959 led to a large wave of Cuban immigration into South Florida, which transformed Miami into a major center of commerce, finance and transportation for all of Latin America. Emigration from Haiti
, other Caribbean
states, and Central and South America continues to the present day.
Like other states in the South, Florida had many African American leaders who were active in the civil rights movement
. In the 1940s and '50s, a new generation started working on issues. Harry Moore built the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) in Florida, rapidly increasing its membership to 10,000. Because Florida's voter laws were not as restrictive as those of Georgia and Alabama, he also had some success in registering black voters. In the 1940s he increased voter registration among blacks from 5 to 31% of those age-eligible.
The state had white groups who resisted change to the point of attacking and killing blacks. In December 1951 was the notorious bombing of the house of activists Harry Moore and his wife Harriette, who both died of injuries from the blast. Although their murders were not solved then, a state investigation in 2006 reported they had been killed by an independent unit of the Ku Klux Klan
. Numerous bombings were directed against African Americans in 1951–1952 in Florida.
The state's population had changed markedly by in-migration of new groups, as well as outmigration of African Americans, 40,000 of whom moved north in earlier decades of the 20th century during the Great Migration
. By 1960 African Americans in Florida numbered 880,186 citizens, but represented only 18% of the state's population. This was a much smaller proportion than in 1900, when according to the census, they comprised 44% of the state's population but numbered 231,209 persons. Since the 19th century, educated black middle classes had developed in numerous cities. By their leadership in Florida and other states, African Americans gained national support and passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protected voting for all citizens.
In the years after such legislation, African Americans and other minorities in the South began to vote and participate more fully in the political process.
The state created a civil service in the constitutional rewrite of 1968. Until that time, every time a cabinet officer or governor changed, "three fourths of the employees lost their jobs."
Florida became the battleground of the controversial 2000 US presidential election which took place on November 7, 2000, when a count of the popular votes held on Election Day was extremely close triggering automatic recounts. These recounts triggered accusations of fraud, manipulation and brought to light voting irregularities.
Subsequent recount efforts degenerated into arguments over mispunched ballots, "hanging chads," and controversial decisions by the Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris
and the Florida Supreme Court
. Ultimately, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Bush v. Gore
to end all recounts, allowing Secretary of State Harris to certify the election results. The final official Florida count gave the victory to George W. Bush
over Al Gore
by 537 votes, a 0.009% margin of difference. The process was extremely divisive, and led to calls for electoral reform in Florida
.
. In 2000 Congress authorized the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan
(CERP) at $8 billion. The goals are to restore the health of the Everglades ecosystem and maximize the value to people of its land, water, and soil.,
Florida has historically been at risk from hurricanes and tropical storms. These have presented higher risks and property damage as the concentration of population and development has increased along Florida's coastal areas. Not only are more people and property at risk, but development has overtaken the natural system of wetlands and waterways, which used to absorb some of the storms' energy.
Hurricane Andrew
in August 1992 struck Homestead
, just south of Miami as a Category 5 hurricane, leaving forty people dead, 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed, more than a million people left without electricity, and damages of $20–30 billion. Much of South Florida's sensitive vegetation was severely damaged. The region had not seen a storm of such power in decades. Besides heavy property damage, the hurricane nearly destroyed the region's insurance industry. Andrew also destroyed complacency and erased any sense of benign ignorance toward hurricanes among South Florida residents.
The western panhandle was damaged heavily in 1995
, with storms Allison
, Erin
, and Opal
hitting the area within the span of a few months. The storms increased in strength as the season went on, culminating with Opal's landfall as a Category 3 in October.
Florida suffered heavily during the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season
, when four major storms struck the state. Hurricane Charley
made landfall in the Charlotte County area and cut northward through the peninsula, Hurricane Frances
struck the Atlantic coast and drenched most of central Florida with heavy rains, Hurricane Ivan
caused heavy damage in the western Panhandle, and Hurricane Jeanne
caused damage to the same area as Frances, including compounded beach erosion. Damage from all four storms was estimated to be at least $22 billion, with some estimates going as high as $40 billion. In 2005, South Florida was struck, by Hurricanes Katrina
and Wilma
. The panhandle was struck by Hurricane Dennis
.
Environmental issues include preservation and restoration of the Everglades, which has moved slowly. There has been pressure by industry groups to drill for oil in the eastern Gulf of Mexico
but so far, large-scale drilling off the coasts of Florida has been prevented. The federal government declared the state an agricultural disaster area because of 13 straight days of freezing weather during the growing season in January, 2010.
History of places in Florida
Juan Ponce de León
Juan Ponce de León was a Spanish explorer. He became the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish crown. He led the first European expedition to Florida, which he named...
, who explored the area in 1513. Since that time Florida has had a long history of immigration, including French and Spanish settlement during the 16th century, as well as entry of new Native American groups migrating from elsewhere in the South. Florida was under colonial rule by Spain
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
and Great Britain
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
during the 18th and 19th centuries before becoming a territory in 1822 of the United States. Two decades later, in 1845, Florida was admitted to the union as the 27th US state.
Florida is nicknamed the "Sunshine State" due to its generally warm climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
, which has fostered developments and attracted migrants throughout the state's history. Particularly in the 20th and 21st centuries, a diverse population and urbanized economy have developed. As of 2008, the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
estimates that the state population was 18,328,340, ranking Florida as the fourth most populous state in the U.S.
Early history
Orange Island (Florida)
Orange Island is the earliest emergent landmass of Florida dating from the middle Rupelian ~33.9—28.4 Ma. geologic stage of the Early Oligocene epoch and named for Orange County, Florida, United States of America.-Location:...
, a low-relief island sitting atop the carbonate Florida Platform
Florida Platform
The Florida Platform is a flat geological feature with the emergent portion being the Florida peninsula.-Structure:The platform forms a rampart between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. The platform's western edge, or Florida Escarpment, is normally defined with water depths at 300 feet...
. Paleo-Indians entered what is now Florida at least 14,000 years ago. Due to the large amount of water locked up in glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s during the Wisconsin glaciation
Wisconsin glaciation
The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....
, the sea level may have been 100 metres (more than 300 feet) lower than present levels. As a result, the Florida peninsula had a land area about twice what it is today. Florida also had a drier and cooler climate than in more recent times. There were few flowing rivers or wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s. Across large areas of Florida, fresh water was available only in sinkhole
Sinkhole
A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's surface caused by karst processes — the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes for example in sandstone...
s and limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
catchment basins. As a result, most paleo-Indian activity was around the watering holes. Sinkholes and basins in the beds of modern rivers (such as the Page-Ladson prehistory site
Page-Ladson prehistory site
The Page-Ladson prehistory site is a deep hole in the bed of the Aucilla River that has stratified deposits of late Pleistocene and early Holocene animal bones and human artifacts reaching back to about 14,500 to 12,500 calendar years Before Present...
in the Aucilla River
Aucilla River
The Aucilla River rises close to Thomasville, Georgia, USA, and passes through the Big Bend region of Florida, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico at Apalachee Bay. The river is long and has a drainage basin of . The Wacissa River is a tributary...
) have yielded a rich trove of paleo-Indian artifacts
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
, including Clovis point
Clovis point
Clovis points are the characteristically-fluted projectile points associated with the North American Clovis culture. They date to the Paleoindian period around 13,500 years ago. Clovis fluted points are named after the city of Clovis, New Mexico, where examples were first found in 1929.At the right...
s.
Excavations at an ancient stone quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
(the Container Corporation of America site in Marion County
Marion County, Florida
Marion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 316,183. Its county seat is Ocala....
) yielded "crude stone implements" showing signs of extensive wear from deposits below those holding Paleo-Indian artifacts. Thermoluminescence dating
Thermoluminescence dating
Thermoluminescence dating is the determination, by means of measuring the accumulated radiation dose, of the time elapsed since material containing crystalline minerals was either heated or exposed to sunlight...
and weathering
Weathering
Weathering is the breaking down of rocks, soils and minerals as well as artificial materials through contact with the Earth's atmosphere, biota and waters...
analysis independently gave dates of 26,000 to 28,000 years ago for the creation of the artifacts. The findings are controversial, and funding has not been available for follow-up studies.
As the glaciers began retreating about 8000 BC, the climate of Florida became warmer and wetter, and the sea level rose. The paleo-Indian culture was replaced by, or evolved into, the Early Archaic culture. With an increase in population and more water available, the people occupied many more locations, as evidenced by numerous artifacts. Archaeologists have learned much about the Early Archaic people of Florida from the spectacular discoveries made at Windover Pond
Windover archaeological site
The Windover Archaeological Site is an Early Archaic archaeological site found in Brevard County near Titusville, Florida, USA, on the central east coast of the state. Windover is a muck pond where skeletal remains of 168 individuals were found buried in the peat at the bottom of the pond. The...
. The Early Archaic period evolved into the Middle Archaic period around 5000 BC. People started living in villages near wetlands and favored sites that were likely occupied for multiple generations.
The Late Archaic period started about 3000 BC, when Florida's climate had reached current conditions and the sea had risen close to its present level. People commonly occupied both fresh and saltwater wetlands. Large shell middens accumulated during this period. Many people lived in large villages with purpose-built earthwork
Earthworks (archaeology)
In archaeology, earthwork is a general term to describe artificial changes in land level. Earthworks are often known colloquially as 'lumps and bumps'. Earthworks can themselves be archaeological features or they can show features beneath the surface...
mound
Mound
A mound is a general term for an artificial heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. The most common use is in reference to natural earthen formation such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. The term may also be applied to any rounded area of topographically...
s, such as at Horr's Island
Horr's Island archaeological site
The Horr's Island archaeological site is a significant Archaic period archaeological site located on an island in Southwest Florida formerly known as Horr's Island. Horr's Island is on the south side of Marco Island in Collier County, Florida. The site includes four mounds and a shell ring...
, which had the largest permanently occupied community in the Archaic period in the southeastern United States. It also has the oldest burial mound in the East, dating to about 1450 BC. People began creating fired pottery in Florida by 2000 BC. By about 500 BC, the Archaic culture, which had been fairly uniform across Florida, began to fragment into regional cultures.
The post-Archaic cultures of eastern and southern Florida developed in relative isolation. It is likely that the peoples living in those areas at the time of first European contact were direct descendants of the inhabitants of the areas in late Archaic times. The cultures of the Florida panhandle and the north and central Gulf
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
coast of the Florida peninsula were strongly influenced by the Mississippian culture
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
. Continuity in cultural history suggests that the peoples of those areas were also descended from the inhabitants of the Archaic period. In the panhandle and the northern part of the peninsula, people adopted cultivation of maize. Its cultivation was restricted or absent among the tribes who lived south of the Timucuan
Timucua language
Timucua is a language isolate formerly spoken in northern and central Florida and southern Georgia by the Timucua people. Timucua was the primary language used in the area at the time of Spanish arrival in Florida. Linguistic and archaeological studies suggest that it may have been spoken from...
-speaking people (i.e., south of a line approximately from present-day Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, USA. According to 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the city has a population of 64,211. Daytona Beach is a principal city of the Deltona – Daytona Beach – Ormond Beach, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which the census bureau estimated had...
to a point on or north of Tampa Bay.) Peoples in southern Florida depended on the rich estuarine environment and developed a highly complex society without agriculture.
Native American tribes
Apalachee
The Apalachee are a Native American people who historically lived in the Florida Panhandle, and now live primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Their historical territory was known to the Spanish colonists as the Apalachee Province...
, with a population of around 50,000, to villages with no known political affiliation. There were an estimated 150,000 speakers of dialects of the Timucua language
Timucua language
Timucua is a language isolate formerly spoken in northern and central Florida and southern Georgia by the Timucua people. Timucua was the primary language used in the area at the time of Spanish arrival in Florida. Linguistic and archaeological studies suggest that it may have been spoken from...
, but the Timucua
Timucua
The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the...
were only organized as groups of villages and did not share a common culture.
Other tribes in Florida at the time of first contact included the Ais
Ais (tribe)
The Ais, or Ays were a tribe of Native Americans who inhabited the Atlantic Coast of Florida. They ranged from present day Cape Canaveral to the St. Lucie Inlet, in the present day counties of Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie and northernmost Martin...
, Calusa
Calusa
The Calusa were a Native American people who lived on the coast and along the inner waterways of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region; at the time of European contact, the Calusa were the people of the Caloosahatchee culture...
, Jaega
Jaega
The Jaegas were a tribe of Native Americans living along the coast of present-day Martin County and Palm Beach County, Florida at the time of initial European contact, and until sometime in the 18th Century...
, Mayaimi
Mayaimi
The Mayaimi were a Native American people who lived around Lake Okeechobee in Florida from the beginning of the Common Era until the 17th or 18th century. The group took their name from the lake, which was then called Mayaimi, which meant "big water" in the language of the Mayaimi, Calusa, and...
, Tequesta
Tequesta
The Tequesta Native American tribe, at the time of first European contact, occupied an area along the southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida...
and Tocobaga
Tocobaga
Tocobaga was the name of a chiefdom, its chief and its principal town during the 16th century in the area of Tampa Bay. The town was at the northern end of what is now called Old Tampa Bay, an arm of Tampa Bay that extends northward between the present-day city of Tampa and Pinellas County...
. What we know of these tribes are from what was written about them by early explorers such as Alvaro Mexia
Alvaro Mexia
Alvaro Mexia was a 17th century Spanish explorer and cartographer of the east coast of Florida. Mexia was stationed in St Augustine and was given a diplomatic mission to the native populations living south of St. Augustine and in the Cape Canaveral area...
. The populations of all of these tribes decreased markedly during the period of Spanish control of Florida, mostly due to epidemics of newly introduced infectious diseases, to which the Native Americans had no natural immunity
Immunity (medical)
Immunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. Immunity involves both specific and non-specific components. The non-specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide...
.
At the beginning of the 18th century, when the indigenous
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
peoples were already much reduced in populations, tribes from areas to the north of Florida, supplied with arms and occasionally accompanied by white colonists from the Province of Carolina
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
, raided throughout Florida. They burned villages, wounded many of the inhabitants and carried captives back to Charles Towne
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
to be sold into slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
. Most of the villages in Florida were abandoned and the survivors sought refuge at St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
or in isolated spots around the state. Many tribes became extinct during this period and by the end of the 18th century.
Some of the Apalachee eventually reached Louisiana, where they survived as a distinct group for at least another century. The Spanish evacuated the few surviving members of the Florida tribes to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
in 1763 when Spain transferred the territory of Florida to the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
following the latter's victory in the Seven Years War. In the aftermath, the Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
, originally an offshoot of the Creek people
Creek people
The Muscogee , also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida...
who absorbed other groups, developed as a distinct tribe in Florida during the 18th century through the process of ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis
Ethnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges...
. They are now represented in the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma is a federally recognized Seminole tribe based in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the largest of the three federally recognized Seminole organizations, which include the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida...
, the Seminole Tribe of Florida
Seminole Tribe of Florida
The Seminole Tribe of Florida is a federally recognized Seminole tribe based in the U.S. state of Florida. Together with the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, it is one of three federally recognized Seminole entities...
, and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.
First Spanish rule
Fountain of Youth
The Fountain of Youth is a legendary spring that reputedly restores the youth of anyone who drinks of its waters. Tales of such a fountain have been recounted across the world for thousands of years, appearing in writings by Herodotus, the Alexander romance, and the stories of Prester John...
. Although it is often stated that he sighted the peninsula for the first time on March 27, 1513, and thought it was an island, he probably saw one of the Bahama islands. It the Spanish custom to name a place after the nearest Roman Catholic feast. He arrived on the east coast during the Spanish Easter feast, Pascua Florida
Pascua Florida
Pascua Florida is a Spanish term that means flowery festival or feast of flowers. It usually refers to the Easter season. ....
, April 7. He named the land La Pascua de la Florida, or "Passion of the Flowers," or "Passion of the Christ"
Ponce de León returned with equipment and settlers to start a colony in 1521, but they were driven off by repeated attacks from the native population. Pánfilo de Narváez
Pánfilo de Narváez
Pánfilo de Narváez was a Spanish conqueror and soldier in the Americas. He is most remembered as the leader of two expeditions, one to Mexico in 1520 to oppose Hernán Cortés, and the disastrous Narváez expedition to Florida in 1527....
's expedition explored Florida's west coast in 1528 but was lost at sea upon his attempted seaward escape to Mexico. Hernando de Soto's
Hernando de Soto (explorer)
Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River....
entered Florida in 1539. In 1559 Tristán de Luna y Arellano
Tristán de Luna y Arellano
Tristán de Luna y Arellano was a Spanish Conquistador of the 16th century. Born in Borobia, Spain, he came to New Spain in about 1530, and was sent on an expedition to conquer Florida in 1559...
established a brief settlement in Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
but after a violent hurricane destroyed the area it was abandoned in 1561.
René Goulaine de Laudonnière
René Goulaine de Laudonnière
René Goulaine de Laudonnière was a French Huguenot explorer and the founder of the French colony of Fort Caroline in what is now Jacksonville, Florida...
founded Fort Caroline
Fort Caroline
Fort Caroline was the first French colony in the present-day United States. Established in what is now Jacksonville, Florida, on June 22, 1564, under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière, it was intended as a refuge for the Huguenots. It lasted one year before being obliterated by the...
in what is now Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
in 1564 as a haven for the Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
s. Further down the coast the Spanish founded in 1565 by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was a Spanish admiral and explorer, best remembered for founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565. This was the first successful Spanish foothold in La Florida and remained the most significant city in the region for several hundred years. St...
, San Agustín (St. Augustine
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
) is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in any U.S. state; it is second oldest only to San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
in the United States' current territory. From this base of operations, the Spanish began building Catholic missions
Spanish missions in Florida
Beginning in the second half of the 16th century, the Kingdom of Spain established a number of missions throughout la Florida in order to convert the Indians to Christianity, to facilitate control of the area, and to prevent its colonization by other countries, in particular, England and France...
.
On September 20, 1565, Menéndez de Avilés attacked Fort Caroline, killing most of the French Huguenot soldiers defending it. Two years later, Dominique de Gourgues recaptured the settlement from the Spanish and slaughtered all of the Spanish defenders.
St. Augustine became the most important settlement in Florida. It was little more than a fortress for many years, and was frequently attacked and burned, with most residents killed or fled. It was notably devastated in 1586, when English sea captain and sometime pirate Sir Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
plundered and burned the city. Catholic missionaries used St. Augustine as a base of operations to establish far-flung missions. They converted 26,000 natives by 1655, but a revolt in 1656 and an epidemic in 1659 proved devastating. Pirate attacks were unrelenting against small outposts and even St. Augustine itself.
Throughout the 17th century, English settlers in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and the Carolinas gradually pushed the boundaries of Spanish territory south, while the French settlements along the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
encroached on the western borders of the Spanish claim. In 1702, English Colonel James Moore
James Moore (South Carolina politician)
James Moore was the British governor of colonial South Carolina between 1700 and 1703. He is remembered for leading several invasions of Spanish Florida, including attacks in 1704 and 1706 which wiped out most of the Spanish missions in Florida....
and allied Yamasee
Yamasee
The Yamasee were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans that lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida.-History:...
and Creek Indians
Creek people
The Muscogee , also known as the Creek or Creeks, are a Native American people traditionally from the southeastern United States. Mvskoke is their name in traditional spelling. The modern Muscogee live primarily in Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida...
attacked and razed the town of St. Augustine, but they could not gain control of the fort. In 1704, Moore and his soldiers began burning Spanish missions in north Florida and executing Indians friendly with the Spanish. The collapse of the Spanish mission system and the defeat of the Spanish-allied Apalachee
Apalachee
The Apalachee are a Native American people who historically lived in the Florida Panhandle, and now live primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Their historical territory was known to the Spanish colonists as the Apalachee Province...
Indians (the Apalachee massacre
Apalachee Massacre
The Apalachee massacre was a series of brutal raids by English colonists from the Province of Carolina and their Indian allies against a largely pacific population of Apalachee Indians in northern Spanish Florida that took place during Queen Anne's War in 1704...
) opened Florida up to slave raids
Slavery among the indigenous peoples of the Americas
Slavery among the indigenous peoples of the Americas took many forms throughout North and South America. Slavery was institution among various Pre-Columbian indigenous peoples of the Americas; however, chattel slavery was introduced after European and African contact. Indigenous peoples have...
, which reached to the Florida Keys and decimated the native population. The Yamasee War
Yamasee War
The Yamasee War was a conflict between British settlers of colonial South Carolina and various Native American Indian tribes, including the Yamasee, Muscogee, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Catawba, Apalachee, Apalachicola, Yuchi, Savannah River Shawnee, Congaree, Waxhaw, Pee Dee, Cape Fear, Cheraw, and...
of 1715–1717 resulted in numerous Indian refugees, such as the Yamasee, moving south to Florida. In 1719, the French captured the Spanish settlement at Pensacola.
The British and their colonies made war repeatedly against the Spanish, especially in 1702, and captured St Augustine in 1740. The British were angry that Spanish Florida was attracting a large number of Africans and African Americans in North America who sought freedom from British slavery. The slaves that could escape, once they made it to Florida, were given freedom after they converted to Catholicism. They settled in a buffer community north of St. Augustine, called Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose
Fort Mose Historic State Park
Fort Mose Historic State Park is a U.S. National Historic Landmark , located two miles north of St. Augustine, Florida, on the eastern edge of a marsh. It is also a Florida State Park...
, the first settlement made of free slaves in North America.
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake
1755 Lisbon earthquake
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon Earthquake, was a megathrust earthquake that took place on Saturday 1 November 1755, at around 9:40 in the morning. The earthquake was followed by fires and a tsunami, which almost totally destroyed Lisbon in the Kingdom of Portugal, and...
triggered a tsunami that would have struck Central Florida with an estimated 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) wave.
Creek and Seminole Native Americans who had established buffer settlements in Florida at the invitation of the Spanish government also welcomed many of those slaves. In 1771, Governor John Moultrie wrote to the English Board of Trade that “It has been a practice for a good while past, for negroes to run away from their Masters, and get into the Indian towns, from whence it proved very difficult to get them back.” When British government officials pressured the Seminoles to return runaway slaves, they replied that they had "merely given hungry people food, and invited the slaveholders to catch the runaways themselves."
British rule
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
for control of Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba, which had been captured by the British during the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
. It was part of a large expansion of British territory following the country's victory in the Seven Years War
Great Britain in the Seven Years War
The Kingdom of Great Britain was one of the major participants in the Seven Years' War which lasted between 1756 and 1763. Britain emerged from the war as the world's leading colonial power having gained a number of new territories at the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and established itself as the...
. Almost the entire Spanish population left, taking along most of the remaining indigenous population to Cuba. The British divided the territory into East Florida
East Florida
East Florida was a colony of Great Britain from 1763–1783 and of Spain from 1783–1822. East Florida was established by the British colonial government in 1763; as its name implies it consisted of the eastern part of the region of Florida, with West Florida comprising the western parts. Its capital...
and West Florida
West Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
. They began aggressive recruitment programs designed to attract settlers to the area, offering free land and backing for export-oriented businesses.
East Florida was the site of the largest single importation of white settlers in the colonial period; Dr Andrew Turnbull
Andrew Turnbull
Andrew Turnbull is the name of:* Andrew Turnbull , early colonizer of Florida* Andrew Turnbull, Baron Turnbull , head of the British Civil Service and Cabinet Secretary 2002–2005...
transplanted around 1,500 indentured settlers, from Minorca
Minorca
Min Orca or Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. It takes its name from being smaller than the nearby island of Majorca....
, Majorca, Ibiza
Ibiza
Ibiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...
, Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
, Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, Mani Peninsula
Mani Peninsula
The Mani Peninsula , also long known as Maina or Maïna, is a geographical and cultural region in Greece. Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf...
, and Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, to grow hemp
Hemp
Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...
, sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
, indigo
Indigo
Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...
, and to produce rum
Rum
Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...
. Settled at New Smyrna
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
New Smyrna Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. The population was 20,048 according to the 2000 census. As of 2007, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 23,161.-History:...
, within months the colony suffered major losses primarily due to insect-borne diseases and Native American raids. Most crops did not do well in the sandy Florida soil. Those that survived rarely equaled the quality produced in other colonies. The colonists tired of their servitude and Turnbull's rule. On several occasions, he used African slaves to whip his unruly settlers. The settlement collapsed and the survivors fled to safety with the British authorities in St. Augustine. Their descendants survive to this day, as does the name New Smyrna.
In 1767, the British moved the northern boundary of West Florida to a line extending from the mouth of the Yazoo River
Yazoo River
The Yazoo River is a river in the U.S. state of Mississippi.The Yazoo River was named by French explorer La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in reference to the Yazoo tribe living near the river's mouth. The exact meaning of the term is unclear...
east to the Chattahoochee River
Chattahoochee River
The Chattahoochee River flows through or along the borders of the U.S. states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and emptying into Apalachicola Bay in the Gulf of...
(32° 28′north latitude), consisting of approximately the lower third of the present states of Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. During this time, Creek Indians migrated into Florida and formed the Seminole tribe.
The two Floridas remained loyal to Great Britain throughout the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. However, Spain (participating indirectly in the war as an ally of France) captured Pensacola
Battle of Pensacola (1781)
The Siege of Pensacola was fought in 1781, the culmination of Spain's conquest of the British province West Florida during the American War of Independence.-Background:...
from the British in 1781. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
ended the Revolutionary War and returned all of Florida to Spanish control, but without specifying the boundaries. The Spanish wanted the expanded boundary, while the new United States demanded the old boundary at the 31st parallel north
31st parallel north
The 31st parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 31 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Africa, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean.Part of the border between Iran and Iraq is defined by the parallel....
. In the Treaty of San Lorenzo of 1795, Spain recognized the 31st parallel as the boundary.
Second Spanish rule
Spanish presence was minor during that empire's second rule over Florida. The region became a haven for escaped slaves and a base for Indian attacks against the U.S., and the U.S. demanded Spain reform. There were almost no Spanish settlers and only a few soldiers. In the meantime, American settlers established a foothold in the area and ignored Spanish officials. British settlers who had remained also resented Spanish rule, leading to a rebellion in 1810 and the establishment for ninety days of the so-called Free and Independent Republic of West FloridaWest Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
on September 23. After meetings beginning in June, rebels overcame the Spanish garrison at Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
(now in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
), and unfurled the flag of the new republic: a single white star on a blue field. This flag would later become known as the "Bonnie Blue Flag
Bonnie Blue Flag
The Bonnie Blue Flag, a single white star on a blue field, was the flag of the short-lived Republic of West Florida. Decades later, during the Civil War, it became an unofficial banner of the Confederacy, inspiring the song "The Bonnie Blue Flag," which was often sung by Southern troops.The flag...
".
In 1810, parts of West Florida were annexed by proclamation of President James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
, who claimed the region as part of the Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
. These parts were incorporated into the newly formed Territory of Orleans. The U.S. annexed the Mobile District of West Florida to the Mississippi Territory
Mississippi Territory
The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 7, 1798, until December 10, 1817, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Mississippi....
in 1812. Spain continued to dispute the area, though the United States gradually increased the area it occupied.
Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
Indians based in East Florida
East Florida
East Florida was a colony of Great Britain from 1763–1783 and of Spain from 1783–1822. East Florida was established by the British colonial government in 1763; as its name implies it consisted of the eastern part of the region of Florida, with West Florida comprising the western parts. Its capital...
began raiding Georgia settlements, and offering havens for runaway slaves. The United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
led increasingly frequent incursions into Spanish territory, including the 1817–1818 campaign against the Seminole Indians by Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
that became known as the First Seminole War. The United States now effectively controlled East Florida. Control was necessary according to Secretary of State John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
because Florida had become "a derelict open to the occupancy of every enemy, civilized or savage, of the United States, and serving no other earthly purpose than as a post of annoyance to them.". Florida had become a burden to Spain, which could not afford to send settlers or garrisons. Madrid therefore decided to cede the territory to the United States through the Adams-Onís Treaty
Adams-Onís Treaty
The Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty or the Purchase of Florida, was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that gave Florida to the U.S. and set out a boundary between the U.S. and New Spain . It settled a standing border dispute between the two...
, which took effect in 1821.
Florida Territory
Florida Territory
The Territory of Florida was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 30, 1822, until March 3, 1845, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Florida...
became an organized territory of the United States on March 30, 1822. The Americans merged East Florida
East Florida
East Florida was a colony of Great Britain from 1763–1783 and of Spain from 1783–1822. East Florida was established by the British colonial government in 1763; as its name implies it consisted of the eastern part of the region of Florida, with West Florida comprising the western parts. Its capital...
and West Florida
West Florida
West Florida was a region on the north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, which underwent several boundary and sovereignty changes during its history. West Florida was first established in 1763 by the British government; as its name suggests it largely consisted of the western portion of the region...
(although the majority of West Florida was annexed to Territory of Orleans and Mississippi Territory
Mississippi Territory
The Territory of Mississippi was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 7, 1798, until December 10, 1817, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Mississippi....
), and established a new capital in Tallahassee
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
, conveniently located halfway between the East Florida capital of St. Augustine and the West Florida capital of Pensacola. The boundaries of Florida's first two counties, Escambia
Escambia County, Florida
Escambia County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Florida. The 2010 population was 297,619. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county is 296,772. Its county seat is Pensacola.- History :...
and St. Johns
St. Johns County, Florida
St. Johns County is a county located in northeastern Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 190,039. The county seat is St. Augustine. Due to the inclusion of Ponte Vedra Beach, it is one of the highest-income counties in the United States....
, approximately coincided with the boundaries of West and East Florida respectively.
Black Seminoles
The Black Seminoles is a term used by modern historians for the descendants of free blacks and some runaway slaves , mostly Gullahs who escaped from coastal South Carolina and Georgia rice plantations into the Spanish Florida wilderness beginning as early as the late 17th century...
, and clashes between whites and Indians grew with the influx of new settlers. In 1832, the United States government signed the Treaty of Payne's Landing
Treaty of Payne's Landing
The Treaty of Payne's Landing was an agreement signed on 9 May 1832 between the government of the United States and several chiefs of the Seminole Indians in the present-day state of Florida.- Background :...
with some of the Seminole chiefs, promising them lands west of the Mississippi River if they agreed to leave Florida voluntarily. Many Seminoles left then, while those who remained prepared to defend their claims to the land. White settlers pressured the government to remove all of the Indians, by force if necessary, and in 1835, the U.S. Army arrived to enforce the treaty.
The Second Seminole War
Second Seminole War
The Second Seminole War, also known as the Florida War, was a conflict from 1835 to 1842 in Florida between various groups of Native Americans collectively known as Seminoles and the United States, part of a series of conflicts called the Seminole Wars...
began at the end of 1835 with the Dade Massacre
Dade Massacre
The "Dade Massacre" was an 1835 defeat for the United States Army that started the Second Seminole War, which lasted until 1842.On December 23, 1835, two U.S. companies of 110 troops under Major Francis L. Dade departed from Fort Brooke , heading up the King Highway on a resupply and reinforce...
, when Seminoles ambushed Army troops marching from Fort Brooke
Fort Brooke
Fort Brooke was a historical military post situated on the east bank of the Hillsborough River in present-day Tampa, Florida. The Tampa Convention Center currently stands at the site.-Fort Brooke as a military outpost:...
(Tampa) to reinforce Fort King
Fort King
Fort King was a United States military fort in north central Florida. It was named after Colonel William King, commander of Florida's Fourth Infantry and the first governor of the provisional West Florida region. The fort was built in 1827, and became the genesis of the city of Ocala...
(Ocala). They killed or mortally wounded all but one of the 110 troops. Between 900 and 1,500 Seminole warriors effectively employed guerrilla tactics against United States Army troops for seven years. Osceola
Osceola
Osceola, also known as Billy Powell , became an influential leader with the Seminole in Florida. He was of Creek, Scots-Irish and English parentage, and had migrated to Florida with his mother after the defeat of the Creek in 1814.Osceola led a small band of warriors in the Seminole resistance...
, a charismatic young war leader, came to symbolize the war and the Seminoles after he was arrested by Brigadier General Joseph Marion Hernandez
Joseph Marion Hernández
José Mariano Hernández or Joseph Marion Hernández was an American politician, plantation owner, and soldier. He was the first from the Florida Territory and the first Hispanic American to serve in the United States Congress. He served from September 1822 to March 1823. He was a member of the Whig...
while negotiating under a white truce flag in October 1837, by order of General Thomas Jesup
Thomas Jesup
Brigadier General Thomas Sidney Jesup, USA was an American military officer known as the "Father of the Modern Quartermaster Corps". He was born in Berkeley County, West Virginia. He began his military career in 1808, and served in the War of 1812, seeing action in the battles of Chippewa and...
. First imprisoned at Fort Marion, he died of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
at Fort Moultrie in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
less than three months after his capture. The war ended in 1842. The U.S. government is estimated to have spent between $20 million ($ in dollars) and $40 million ($ in dollars) on the war, at the time, this was considered a large sum. Almost all of the Seminoles were forcibly exiled to Creek lands west of the Mississippi; about 300 remained in the Everglades
Everglades
The Everglades are subtropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee...
.
Statehood
William Dunn Moseley
William Dunn Moseley was an American politician. A Democrat and North Carolina native, Moseley became the first Governor of the state of Florida, serving from 1845 until 1849 and leading the establishment of the state government.-Early life and education:He was born at Moseley Hall in Lenoir...
.
Almost half the state's population were enslaved African Americans working on large cotton and sugar plantations. Like the people who held them, many slaves had come from the coastal areas of Georgia and the Carolinas. They were part of the Gullah
Gullah
The Gullah are African Americans who live in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands....
-Gee Chee culture of the Low Country. Others were enslaved African Americans from the Upper South who had been sold to traders taking slaves to the Deep South.
In the 1850s, white settlers were again encroaching on lands used by Seminoles. The United States government decided to make another attempt to move the remaining Seminoles to the West. Increased Army patrols led to hostilities. The Third Seminole War lasted from 1855 to 1858. At its end, US forces estimated only 100 Seminoles were left in Florida. In 1859, 75 Seminoles surrendered and were sent to the West, but some Seminoles continued to live in the Everglades.
On the eve of the Civil War, Florida had the smallest population of the Southern states. It was invested in plantation agriculture. By 1860, Florida had only 140,424 people, of whom 44% were enslaved. There were fewer than 1,000 free people of color before the Civil War.
Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's election in 1860, Florida joined other Southern states in seceding from the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
. Secession
Secession
Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
took place January 10, 1861, and, after less than a month as an independent republic, Florida became one of the founding members of the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
. As Florida was an important supply route for the Confederate Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
, Union forces operated a blockade around the entire state. Union troops occupied major ports such as Cedar Key
Cedar Key, Florida
Cedar Key is a city in Levy County, Florida, United States. The population was 790 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S Census estimates of 2005, the city had a population of 958. The Cedar Keys are a cluster of islands close to the mainland. Most of the developed area of the city has been on...
, Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, Key West
Key West, Florida
Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1 , Sigsbee Park , Fleming Key , and Sunset Key...
, and Pensacola. Though numerous skirmishes occurred in Florida, including the Battle of Natural Bridge
Battle of Natural Bridge
The Battle of Natural Bridge was a battle during the American Civil War, fought in what is now Woodville, Florida, near Tallahassee, on March 6, 1865...
, the Battle of Marianna
Battle of Marianna
The Battle of Marianna was a small but significant engagement on September 27, 1864, in the panhandle of Florida during the American Civil War...
and the Battle of Gainesville
Battle of Gainesville
The Battle of Gainesville was fought on August 17, 1864, when a Confederate force defeated Union detachments on a raid from the Union garrison in the Jacksonville, Florida, area...
, the only major battle was the Battle of Olustee
Battle of Olustee
The Battle of Olustee or Battle of Ocean Pond was fought in Baker County, Florida on 20 February 1864, during the American Civil War. It was the largest battle fought in Florida during the war.-Background:In February 1864, Major General Quincy A...
near Lake City
Lake City, Florida
Lake City is the county seat of Columbia County, Florida, in the United States. In 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 12,614. In addition, it is the Principal City of the Lake City Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is composed of Columbia County, and had an...
.
A state convention was held in 1865 to rewrite the constitution. After meeting the requirements of Reconstruction, including ratifying amendments to the US Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
, Florida was readmitted to the United States on July 25, 1868. This did not end the struggle for political power among groups in the state. Southern whites objected to freedmen's political participation and complained of illiterate representatives to the state legislature. But of the six members who could not read or write during the seven years of Republican rule, four were white.
After Reconstruction, conservative white Democrats strove for political power until they regained it in 1877. This was accomplished partly through violent actions by white paramilitary groups targeting freedmen and their allies to discourage them from voting. From 1885 to 1889, after regaining power, the white-dominated state legislature passed statutes to reduce voting by blacks and poor whites, which had threatened white Democratic power with a populist coalition. As these groups were stripped from voter rolls, white Democrats established power in a one-party state, as happened across the South.
By 1900 the state's African Americans numbered more than 200,000; 44 percent of the total population. This was the same proportion as before the Civil War, and they were effectively disfranchised. Not being able to vote meant they could not sit on juries, and were not elected to local, state or federal offices. They were not recruited for law enforcement or other government positions. White Democrats proceeded to pass Jim Crow legislation
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
establishing racial segregation in public facilities and transportation. Without political representation, African Americans were shortchanged in the state. For more than six decades, white Democrats controlled virtually all the state's seats in Congress, which were apportioned based on the total population of the state rather than only on those voting.
Since 1900
In 1900, Florida was largely agricultural and frontier, most Floridians lived within 50 miles of the Georgia border. The population grew from only 529,000 in 1900 to 18.3 million in 2009. The population explosion began with the great land boom of the 1920s as Florida went from an undiscovered frontier to a land speculator's paradise. When the Crash came in 1929, prices of houses plunged (as they did again in 2007–09), but the sunshine remained. Hurt badly by the Great DepressionGreat Depression in the United States
The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement...
and the land bust, Florida kept afloat with federal relief money under the Roosevelt Administration.
Florida's economy did not fully recover until the buildup for World War II. The climate, tempered by the growing availability of air conditioning
Air conditioning
An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...
, and low cost of living made the state a haven. Migration from the Rust Belt
Rust Belt
The Rust Belt is a term that gained currency in the 1980s as the informal description of an area straddling the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, in which local economies traditionally garnered an increased manufacturing sector to add jobs and corporate profits...
and the Northeast sharply increased the population after the war. In recent decades, more migrants have come for the jobs in a developing economy. With a population of more than 18 million according to the 2010 census, Florida is the most populous state in the Southeastern United States, the second most populous state in the South behind Texas, and the fourth most populous in the United States.
Race relations
Ocoee, Florida
Ocoee is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. According to the 2000 census, the city proper had a population of 24,391. As of 2006, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 30,654. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Ocoee is...
, November 1920; Perry
Perry, Florida
Perry is a city in Taylor County, Florida, United States. The population was 7,017 at the 2010 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 7,017....
in December 1922; and Rosewood
Rosewood, Florida
The Rosewood massacre was a violent, racially motivated conflict that took place during the first week of January 1923 in rural Levy County, Florida, United States. At least six blacks and two whites were killed, and the town of Rosewood was abandoned and destroyed in what contemporary news reports...
in January 1923. The governor appointed a special grand jury and special prosecuting attorney to investigate Rosewood and Levy County, but the jury did not find sufficient evidence to prosecute. Rosewood was never resettled.
To escape segregation, lynchings, and civil right suppression, 40,000 African Americans migrated from Florida to northern cities in the Great Migration
Great Migration (African American)
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...
from 1910–1940. That was one-fifth of their population in 1900. They sought better lives, including decent-paying jobs, better education for their children, and the chance to vote and participate in political life. Many were recruited for jobs with the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
.
Boom of 1920s
The 1920s were a prosperous time for much of the nation, including Florida. Florida's new railroads opened up large areas to development, spurring the Florida land boom of the 1920sFlorida land boom of the 1920s
The Florida land boom of the 1920s was Florida's first real estate bubble, which burst in 1925, leaving behind entire new cities and the remains of failed development projects such as Aladdin City in south Miami-Dade County and Isola di Lolando in north Biscayne Bay...
. Investors of all kinds, mostly from outside Florida, raced to buy and sell rapidly appreciating land in newly plat
Plat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....
ted communities such as Miami and Palm Beach. Led by entrepreneurs Carl Fisher and George Merrick, Miami was transformed by land speculation and ambitious building projects into an emerging metropolis. A growing awareness in the North about the attractive south Florida winter climate, along with local promotion of speculative investing, spurred the boom. A majority of the people who bought land in Florida were able to do so without stepping foot in the state, by hiring intermediaries. By 1924, the main issues in state elections were how to attract more industry and the need to build and maintain good roads for tourists.
By 1925, the market ran out of buyers to pay the high prices, and soon the boom became a bust. The 1926 Miami Hurricane
1926 Miami Hurricane
The 1926 Miami hurricane was a Category 4 hurricane that devastated Miami in September 1926. The storm also caused significant damage in the Florida Panhandle, the U.S. state of Alabama, and the Bahamas...
further depressed the real estate market.
Prohibition
ProhibitionProhibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
had been popular in north Florida, but was opposed in the south, which became a haven for speakeasies and rum-runners in the 1920s. During 1928–32 a broad coalition of judges, lawyers, politicians, journalists, brewers, hoteliers, retailers, and ordinary Floridians organized to try to repeal the ban on alcohol. When the federal government legalized near beer and light wine in 1933, the wet coalition launched a successful campaign to legalize these beverages at the state level. Floridians subsequently joined in the national campaign to repeal the 18th Amendment, which succeeded in December 1933. The following November, state voters repealed Florida's constitutional ban on liquor and gave local governments the power to legalize or outlaw alcoholic beverages.
Great Depression
The Great DepressionGreat Depression in the United States
The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement...
occurred in 1929. By that time, the economy had already declined in much of Florida from the collapse four years earlier of the land boom.
The New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
(1933–40) changed and reaffirmed the physical and environmental landscape of south Florida. Sewers, roads and schools were built by the Works Progress Administration
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
(WPA
WPA
- Agencies and organizations :*World Pool-Billiard Association*World Psychiatric Association- United States :*Washington Project for the Arts*Women's Prison Association...
). There were work camps for the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
(CCC).
Anticipating war, the Army and Navy decided to use the state as a primary training area. The Navy chose the coastal areas, the Army, the inland areas.
In 1940, the population was about 1.5 million. Average annual income was $308 ($ in dollars).
Tourism
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
the luxurious Tampa Bay Hotel, which later became the campus for the University of Tampa
University of Tampa
The University of Tampa , is a private, co-educational university in Downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2006, the University celebrated its 75th anniversary...
. Flagler built the Florida East Coast Railway
Florida East Coast Railway
The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida; in the past, it has been a Class I railroad.Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a project of Standard Oil principal Henry Morrison...
from Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
to Key West
Key West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
. Along the route he provided for his passengers grand accommodations, including The Ponce de León Hotel
Ponce de León Hotel
The Ponce de León Hotel was an exclusive hotel in St. Augustine, Florida, built by millionaire developer and Standard Oil co-founder Henry M. Flagler and completed in 1888. The Hotel Ponce de Leon was designed in the Spanish Renaissance style by the New York architects John Carrere and Thomas...
in St. Augustine, The Ormond Hotel
Ormond Hotel
The Ormond Hotel was an historic hotel in Ormond Beach, Florida, United States. It was located at 15 East Granada Boulevard.-History:Built by John Anderson and J. D. Price, the hotel opened on January 1, 1888...
in Ormond Beach
Ormond Beach, Florida
Ormond Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. The population was 36,301 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 37,929. Ormond Beach is the northern neighbor of Daytona Beach and is home to Tomoka State Park.-History:Ormond Beach was...
, The Royal Poinciana Hotel
Royal Poinciana Hotel
The Royal Poinciana Hotel was a Gilded Age hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, United States. Enlarged twice and doubling in size each time, it became the largest wooden structure in the world, with 1,700 employees and accommodations for 2,000 guests...
and The Breakers Hotel
Breakers Hotel
The Breakers Hotel is an historic hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, United States. First known as The Palm Beach Inn, it was opened on January 16, 1896 by Henry Flagler, an oil, real estate and railroad tycoon, to accommodate travelers on his Florida East Coast Railway...
in Palm Beach
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
, and The Royal Palm Hotel
Royal Palm Hotel (Miami)
The Royal Palm Hotel was a large resort hotel built by well-known railroad magnate Henry Flagler in Miami, Florida. Opening its doors in 1897, the Royal Palm Hotel was one of the first area hotels in Miami. Five stories tall with a sixth-floor salon, the Royal Palm Hotel featured the city's first...
in Miami.
In February 1888, Florida had a special tourist: President Grover Cleveland
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
, the first lady and his party visited Florida for a couple of days. He visited the Subtropical Exposition in Jacksonville where he made a speech supporting tourism to the state; then, he took a train to St. Augustine, meeting Henry Flagler; and then a train to Titusville
Titusville, Florida
Titusville is a city in Brevard County, Florida in the United States. It is the county seat of Brevard County. Nicknamed Space City, USA, Titusville is on the Indian River, west of Merritt Island and the Kennedy Space Center and south-southwest of the Canaveral National Seashore...
, where he boarded a steamboat and visited Rockledge. On his return trip, he visited Sanford
Sanford, Florida
Sanford is a city in, and the county seat of, Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 38,291 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 50,998...
and Winter Park
Winter Park, Florida
Winter Park is a suburban city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 24,090 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 estimates, the city had a population of 28,083. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area...
.
Theme parks
Cypress Gardens
Cypress Gardens was an American theme park near Winter Haven, Florida, that operated from 1936 to 2009.-History:Billed as Florida's first commercial tourist theme park, Cypress Gardens opened on January 2, 1936 as a botanical garden planted by Dick Pope Sr. and his wife Julie...
(1936) near Winter Haven
Winter Haven, Florida
Winter Haven is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 26,487 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 estimates, the city had a population of 32,577, making it the second most populated city in Polk County...
and Marineland (1938) near St. Augustine.
Disney World
Disney selected Orlando over several other sites for an updated version of their DisneyLand park in California. In 1971, the Magic Kingdom, the first component of the resort, opened and became Florida's best known attraction, attended by tens of millions of visitors a year, spinning off other attractions and large tracts of housing.The Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
area became an international resort and convention destination with a wide variety of themed parks. The Orlando area features theme parks including Universal Orlando Resort
Universal Orlando Resort
Universal Orlando Resort is a theme park resort in Orlando, Florida. It is wholly owned by NBCUniversal and its affiliates. The resort consists of two theme parks , Universal CityWalk , and three Loews Hotels...
, SeaWorld
SeaWorld
SeaWorld is a United States chain of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, and animal theme parks owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. The parks feature captive orca, sea lion, and dolphin shows and zoological displays featuring various other marine animals. There are operations in Orlando,...
, and Wet 'n Wild
Wet 'n Wild - Orlando
Universal's Wet 'n Wild - Orlando is one of the parks within the Wet 'n Wild chain. It was founded by Sea World creator George Millay in Orlando, Florida on March 13, 1977...
.
Military and space industry
The state became a major hub for the United States Armed Forces
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
. Naval Air Station Pensacola
Naval Air Station Pensacola
Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola , "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United States Navy base located next to Warrington, Florida, a community southwest of the Pensacola city limits...
was originally established as a naval station in 1826 and became the first American naval aviation facility in 1917. The entire nation mobilized for World War II and many bases were established in Florida, including Naval Air Station Jacksonville
Naval Air Station Jacksonville
Naval Air Station Jacksonville or NAS Jacksonville is a military airport located four miles south of the central business district of Jacksonville...
, Naval Station Mayport
Naval Station Mayport
Naval Station Mayport is a major United States Navy base in Jacksonville, Florida. It contains a military airfield with one asphalt paved runway measuring 8,001 x 200 ft. ....
, Naval Air Station Cecil Field
Naval Air Station Cecil Field
Naval Air Station Cecil Field or NAS Cecil Field was a United States Navy base, located in Duval County, Florida. NAS Cecil Field was the largest military base in the Jacksonville, Florida, area....
, Naval Air Station Whiting Field
Naval Air Station Whiting Field
Naval Air Station Whiting Field is a United States Navy base located near Milton, Florida, in central Santa Rosa County, and is one of the Navy's two primary pilot training bases . NAS Whiting Field also provides training for U.S. Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Air Force student pilots, as well as...
and Homestead Air Force Base. Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base
Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 3 miles southwest of Valparaiso, Florida in Okaloosa County....
and MacDill Air Force Base
MacDill Air Force Base
MacDill Air Force Base is an active United States Air Force base located approximately south-southwest of downtown Tampa, Florida...
(now the home of U.S. Central Command) were also developed during this time. During the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, Florida's coastal access and proximity to Cuba encouraged the development of these and other military facilities. Since the end of the Cold War, the military has closed some facilities, including major bases at Homestead and Cecil Field, but its presence is still significant in the economy.
Due to the low latitude of the state, it was chosen in 1949 as a test site for the country's nascent missile program. Patrick Air Force Base
Patrick Air Force Base
Patrick Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base located between Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach, in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It was named in honor of Major General Mason Patrick. An Air Force Space Command base, it is home to the 45th Space Wing...
and the Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral, Florida
Cape Canaveral is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,829 at the 2000 census. As of 2008, the estimated population according to the U.S. Census Bureau was 10,147...
launch site began to take shape as the 1950s progressed. By the early 1960s, the Space Race
Space Race
The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...
was in full swing. As programs were expanded and employees joined, the space program generated a huge boom in the communities around Cape Canaveral. This area is now collectively known as the Space Coast
Space Coast
The Space Coast is a region in the U.S. state of Florida around Kennedy Space Center , where NASA launched space shuttles until the last one on July 8th, 2011 at 11:29am; and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, site of unmanned civilian and military space launches...
and features the Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center is the NASA installation that has been the launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. Although such flights are currently on hiatus, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for America's civilian space program...
. It is also a major center of the aerospace industry
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
. To date, all manned orbital spaceflights launched by the United States, including the only men to visit the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, have been launched from Kennedy Space Center.
Migrations and the civil rights movement
Air conditioning
An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...
and the Interstate highway system encouraged emigration from the north. In 1950, Florida was ranked twentieth among the states in population; 50 years later it was ranked fourth. Due to low tax rates and warm climate, Florida became the destination for many retirees from the Northeast, Midwest and Canada.
The Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
of 1959 led to a large wave of Cuban immigration into South Florida, which transformed Miami into a major center of commerce, finance and transportation for all of Latin America. Emigration from Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, other Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
states, and Central and South America continues to the present day.
Like other states in the South, Florida had many African American leaders who were active in the civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
. In the 1940s and '50s, a new generation started working on issues. Harry Moore built the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
(NAACP) in Florida, rapidly increasing its membership to 10,000. Because Florida's voter laws were not as restrictive as those of Georgia and Alabama, he also had some success in registering black voters. In the 1940s he increased voter registration among blacks from 5 to 31% of those age-eligible.
The state had white groups who resisted change to the point of attacking and killing blacks. In December 1951 was the notorious bombing of the house of activists Harry Moore and his wife Harriette, who both died of injuries from the blast. Although their murders were not solved then, a state investigation in 2006 reported they had been killed by an independent unit of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
. Numerous bombings were directed against African Americans in 1951–1952 in Florida.
The state's population had changed markedly by in-migration of new groups, as well as outmigration of African Americans, 40,000 of whom moved north in earlier decades of the 20th century during the Great Migration
Great Migration (African American)
The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...
. By 1960 African Americans in Florida numbered 880,186 citizens, but represented only 18% of the state's population. This was a much smaller proportion than in 1900, when according to the census, they comprised 44% of the state's population but numbered 231,209 persons. Since the 19th century, educated black middle classes had developed in numerous cities. By their leadership in Florida and other states, African Americans gained national support and passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, which protected voting for all citizens.
In the years after such legislation, African Americans and other minorities in the South began to vote and participate more fully in the political process.
The state created a civil service in the constitutional rewrite of 1968. Until that time, every time a cabinet officer or governor changed, "three fourths of the employees lost their jobs."
2000 Presidential election controversy
Florida became the battleground of the controversial 2000 US presidential election which took place on November 7, 2000, when a count of the popular votes held on Election Day was extremely close triggering automatic recounts. These recounts triggered accusations of fraud, manipulation and brought to light voting irregularities.
Subsequent recount efforts degenerated into arguments over mispunched ballots, "hanging chads," and controversial decisions by the Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris
Katherine Harris
Katherine Harris is an American Republican politician, former Secretary of State of Florida, and former member of the United States House of Representatives. Harris won the 2002 election to represent Florida's 13th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. She held that post...
and the Florida Supreme Court
Florida Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. The Supreme Court consists of seven judges: the Chief Justice and six Justices who are appointed by the Governor to 6-year terms and remain in office if retained in a general election near the end of each...
. Ultimately, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Bush v. Gore
Bush v. Gore
Bush v. Gore, , is the landmark United States Supreme Court decision on December 12, 2000, that effectively resolved the 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush. Only eight days earlier, the United States Supreme Court had unanimously decided the closely related case of Bush v...
to end all recounts, allowing Secretary of State Harris to certify the election results. The final official Florida count gave the victory to George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
over Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
by 537 votes, a 0.009% margin of difference. The process was extremely divisive, and led to calls for electoral reform in Florida
Electoral reform in Florida
Electoral reform in Florida refers to efforts to change the voting and election laws in the United States state of Florida.-Alternate voting systems:Voters in Sarasota, Florida voted to switch to instant runoff voting in November 2007.-Ballots:...
.
Everglades, hurricanes, drilling and the environment
Long-term scientific attention has focused on the fragility of the EvergladesEverglades
The Everglades are subtropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee...
. In 2000 Congress authorized the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan
The Central and Southern Florida Project, which was first authorized by Congress in 1948, is a multi-purpose project that provides flood control, water supply for municipal, industrial, and agricultural uses, prevention of saltwater intrusion, water supply for Everglades National Park, and...
(CERP) at $8 billion. The goals are to restore the health of the Everglades ecosystem and maximize the value to people of its land, water, and soil.,
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...
in August 1992 struck Homestead
Homestead, Florida
Homestead is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States nestled between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area....
, just south of Miami as a Category 5 hurricane, leaving forty people dead, 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed, more than a million people left without electricity, and damages of $20–30 billion. Much of South Florida's sensitive vegetation was severely damaged. The region had not seen a storm of such power in decades. Besides heavy property damage, the hurricane nearly destroyed the region's insurance industry. Andrew also destroyed complacency and erased any sense of benign ignorance toward hurricanes among South Florida residents.
The western panhandle was damaged heavily in 1995
1995 Atlantic hurricane season
The 1995 Atlantic hurricane season was the third most active Atlantic hurricane season on record. It officially began on June 1, 1995, and lasted until November 30, 1995. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the north Atlantic ocean...
, with storms Allison
Hurricane Allison (1995)
Hurricane Allison was the first named storm and first hurricane of the 1995 Atlantic hurricane season. It was an early season hurricane that delivered heavy rains and caused minor damage, primarily across Cuba, Florida and Georgia....
, Erin
Hurricane Erin (1995)
Hurricane Erin was the fifth named tropical cyclone and the second hurricane of the unusually active 1995 Atlantic hurricane season. Erin began as a tropical wave off the west coast of Africa on July 22, and crossed the Atlantic ocean without ever developing. On July 31, the last day of the month,...
, and Opal
Hurricane Opal
Hurricane Opal was a Category 4 hurricane that formed in the Gulf of Mexico in September 1995.Opal was the ninth hurricane and the strongest of the abnormally active 1995 Atlantic hurricane season...
hitting the area within the span of a few months. The storms increased in strength as the season went on, culminating with Opal's landfall as a Category 3 in October.
Florida suffered heavily during the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season
2004 Atlantic hurricane season
The 2004 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1, 2004, and lasted until November 30, 2004. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin...
, when four major storms struck the state. Hurricane Charley
Hurricane Charley
Hurricane Charley was the third named storm, the second hurricane, and the second major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. Charley lasted from August 9 to August 15, and at its peak intensity it attained 150 mph winds, making it a strong Category 4 hurricane on the...
made landfall in the Charlotte County area and cut northward through the peninsula, Hurricane Frances
Hurricane Frances
Hurricane Frances was the sixth named storm, the fourth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. The system crossing the open Atlantic during mid to late August, moving to the north of the Lesser Antilles while strengthening. Its outer bands affected Puerto...
struck the Atlantic coast and drenched most of central Florida with heavy rains, Hurricane Ivan
Hurricane Ivan
Hurricane Ivan was a large, long-lived, Cape Verde-type hurricane that caused widespread damage in the Caribbean and United States. The cyclone was the ninth named storm, the sixth hurricane and the fourth major hurricane of the active 2004 Atlantic hurricane season...
caused heavy damage in the western Panhandle, and Hurricane Jeanne
Hurricane Jeanne
Hurricane Jeanne was the deadliest hurricane in the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the tenth named storm, the seventh hurricane, and the fifth major hurricane of the season, as well as the third hurricane and fourth named storm of the season to make landfall in Florida...
caused damage to the same area as Frances, including compounded beach erosion. Damage from all four storms was estimated to be at least $22 billion, with some estimates going as high as $40 billion. In 2005, South Florida was struck, by Hurricanes Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
and Wilma
Hurricane Wilma
Hurricane Wilma was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. Wilma was the twenty-second storm , thirteenth hurricane, sixth major hurricane, and fourth Category 5 hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 season...
. The panhandle was struck by Hurricane Dennis
Hurricane Dennis
Hurricane Dennis was an early-forming major hurricane in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico during the very active 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Dennis was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the season...
.
Environmental issues include preservation and restoration of the Everglades, which has moved slowly. There has been pressure by industry groups to drill for oil in the eastern Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
but so far, large-scale drilling off the coasts of Florida has been prevented. The federal government declared the state an agricultural disaster area because of 13 straight days of freezing weather during the growing season in January, 2010.
See also
- History of the Southern United StatesHistory of the Southern United StatesThe history of the Southern United States reaches back hundreds of years and includes the Mississippian people, well known for their mound building. European history in the region began in the very earliest days of the exploration and colonization of North America...
- Indigenous people of the Everglades regionIndigenous people of the Everglades regionThe indigenous people of the Everglades region arrived in the Florida peninsula approximately 15,000 years ago, probably following large game. The Paleo-Indians found an arid landscape that supported plants and animals adapted to desert conditions...
- List of Royal Governors of La Florida
- Maritime History of FloridaMaritime history of FloridaThe maritime history of Florida describes significant past events relating to the U.S. state of Florida in areas concerning shipping, shipwrecks, and military installations and lighthouses constructed to protect or aid navigation and development of the Florida peninsula.A long and flat peninsula...
History of places in Florida
- History of Florida State UniversityHistory of Florida State UniversityThe history of Florida State University dates to the 19th century and is deeply intertwined with the history of education in the state of Florida and in the city of Tallahassee....
- History of Fort Lauderdale, FloridaHistory of Fort Lauderdale, FloridaThe history of Fort Lauderdale, Florida began more than 4,000 years ago with the arrival of the first aboriginal natives, and later with the Tequesta Indians, who inhabited the area for more than a thousand years. Though control of the area changed among Spain, England, the United States, and the...
- History of Jacksonville, FloridaHistory of Jacksonville, FloridaThe city of Jacksonville, Florida began to grow in the late 18th century as Cowford, but it truly flourished in the time after the American Civil War, becoming a winter vacation spot...
- History of Miami, FloridaHistory of Miami, FloridaThe area in which the city of Miami, Florida would later be founded by Europeans was inhabited for more than a thousand years by the Tequestas. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and his men first visited and claimed the area around Miami for Spain in 1566. A Spanish mission was established one year later...
- History of Pensacola, FloridaHistory of Pensacola, FloridaThe history of Pensacola, Florida begins long before the official founding of the modern city in 1698. The area around present-day Pensacola was inhabited by Native American peoples thousands of years before the historical area. The historical era begins with the arrival of Spanish exlorers in the...
- History of Tallahassee, FloridaHistory of Tallahassee, FloridaThe History of Tallahassee, not unlike the History of Leon County, begins with the Native American population and its interaction with British and Spanish colonists as well as colonial Americans, as the Florida Territory moved toward statehood. Growing numbers of cotton plantations increased the...
- History of Tampa, FloridaHistory of Tampa, FloridaTampa is a United States city in Hillsborough County on the west coast of the state of Florida.The area was once a home to various native American cultures, including the Tocobaga...
- History of the University of FloridaHistory of the University of FloridaThe history of the University of Florida is firmly tied to the history of public education in the state of Florida. The University of Florida, colloquially known as "Florida" or "UF," originated as several distinct institutions that were merged to create a single state-supported university by the...
- History of Ybor CityHistory of Ybor CityYbor City is a historic neighborhood in Tampa, Florida, located just northeast of downtown. It was founded as an independent town in 1885 by a group of cigar manufacturers led by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and was annexed by Tampa in 1887...
Surveys
- Burnett, Gene M. Florida's Past: People and Events That Shaped the State. Pineapple Press: 1998. ISBN 1-56164-115-4.
- Colburn, David R. and deHaven-Smith, Lance. Government in the Sunshine State: Florida since Statehood. (1999). 168 pp.
- Colburn, David R. and Landers, Jane L., eds. The African American Heritage of Florida. (1995). 392 pp.
- Fernald, Edward A. and Purdum, Elizabeth, eds. Atlas of Florida. (1992). 280 pp.
- Gannon, Michael. The New History of Florida. University Press of FloridaUniversity Press of FloridaThe University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing arm of the State University System of Florida representing all eleven universities, and is charged by the Florida Board of Governors with publishing books of intellectual distinction and significance, books that contribute to improving the...
: 1996. ISBN 0-8130-1415-8. 480pp- Gannon, Michael. Florida: A Short History (2003) 192 pages
- George, Paul S., ed. A Guide to the History of Florida. (1989). 300 pp.
- Manley, Walter W., II and Brown, Canter, Jr., eds. The Supreme Court of Florida, 1917–1972 (2007)
- Mormino, Gary R. Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams: A Social History of Modern Florida (2006)
Indians and colonial
- Brown, Robin C. Florida's First People: 12,000 Years of Human History. Pineapple Press: 1994. ISBN 1-56164-032-8.
- Henderson, Ann L., and Gary R. Mormino. Spanish Pathways in Florida: 1492–1992. Pineapple Press: 1991. ISBN 1-56164-004-2.
- Landers, Jane. Black Society in Spanish Florida. University of Illinois PressUniversity of Illinois PressThe University of Illinois Press , is a major American university press and part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic projects...
: 1999. ISBN 0-252-06753-3 - Milanich, Jerald T. Florida's Indians from Ancient Times to the Present. (1998). 224 pp.
- Murphree, Daniel S. Constructing Floridians: Natives and Europeans in the Colonial Floridas, 1513–1783 (2007)
To 1900
- Baptist, Edward E. Creating an Old South: Middle Florida's Plantation Frontier before the Civil War. (2002) 408 pp. online review
- Brown, Canter, Jr. Ossian Bingley Hart: Florida's Loyalist Reconstruction Governor. (1997). 320 pp. on reconstruction
- Hoffman, Paul E. Florida's Frontiers. (History of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier series.) (2002). 470 pp.
- Kokomoor, Kevin. "A Re-assessment of Seminoles, Africans, and Slavery on the Florida Frontier," Florida Historical Quarterly, Fall 2009, Vol. 88 Issue 2, pp 209–236
- Nulty, William H. Confederate Florida: The Road to Olustee. (1990).
- Revels, Tracy J. Grander in Her Daughters: Florida's Women during the Civil War. (2004) 221 pp. online review
- Rivers, Larry Eugene. Slavery in Florida: Territorial Days to Emancipation. (2000). 369 pp. online review
- Rivers, Larry Eugene, and Brown, Canter, Jr. Laborers in the Vineyard of the Lord: The Beginnings of the AME Church in Florida, 1865–1895. (2001). 244 pp. history of the leading black denomination; online review
- Brown, Canter Jr. and Larry Eugene Rivers. For a Great and Grand Purpose: The Beginnings of the AMEZ Church in Florida, 1864–1905.(2004) 268ppl the other large black church online review
- Sprague, John T. The Florida War. (1964), on Seminole war 597 pp.
- Taylor, Robert A., and Lewis N. Wynne. Florida in the Civil War. Arcadia PublishingArcadia PublishingArcadia Publishing is an American publisher of local history.-History:It was founded in Dover, New Hampshire in 1993 by United Kingdom-based Tempus Publishing, but became independent in 2004....
: 2002. ISBN 0-7385-1491-8. - Taylor, Robert A. Rebel Storehouse: Florida in the Confederate Economy. (1995). 218 pp. online review
20th century
- Akin, Edward N. Flagler: Rockefeller Partner and Florida Baron. (1988). 305 pp.
- Colburn, David R. and deHaven-Smith, Lance. Florida's Megatrends: Critical Issues in Florida. (2002). 161 pp. online review
- Colburn, David R. From Yellow Dog Democrats to Red State Republicans: Florida and Its Politics since 1940. (2007) 272pp online review
- Colburn, David R. and Scher, Richard K. Florida's Gubernatorial Politics in the Twentieth Century. (1980). 342 pp.
- Crispell, Brian Lewis. Testing the Limits: George Armistead Smathers and Cold War America. (1999). 234 pp. politics in 1950s and 1960s
- Danese, Tracy E. Claude Pepper and Ed Ball: Politics, Purpose, and Power. (2000). 300 pp. politics of 1950s
- Flynt, Wayne. Cracker Messiah: Governor Sidney J. Catts of Florida. (1977). 359 pp. Democratic governor 1917–21
- Kallina, Edmund F., Jr. Claude Kirk and the Politics of Confrontation. (1993). 253 pp. Republican governor 1967–71
- Kleinberg, Eliot. War in Paradise: Stories of World War II in Florida. (1999). 96pp.
- Klingman, Peter D. Neither Dies nor Surrenders: A History of the Republican Party in Florida, 1867–1970. (1984). 233 pp.
- McCarthy, Kevin M. Baseball in Florida. (1996). 272 pp.
- Manley, Walter M., and Canter Brown. The Supreme Court of Florida, 1917–1972. (2006). 428 pp. online review
- Newton, Michael. The Invisible Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Florida. (2001). 260 pp.
- Mormino, Gary. Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams: A Social History of Modern Florida. (2005) 474 pp. online review
- Peirce, Neal R. The Deep South States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Seven Deep South States. 1974
- Riley, Nano, and Davida Johns. Florida's Farmworkers in the Twenty-First Century (2002) 225pp. online review
- Rowe, Anne E. The Idea of Florida in the American Literary Imagination. (1986). 159 pp.
- Stuart, John A., and John F. Stack, eds. The New Deal in South Florida: Design, Policy, and Community Building, 1933–1940. 263 pp. online review
- Vickers, Raymond B. Panic in Paradise: Florida's Banking Crash of 1926. (1994). 336 pp.
- Wagy, Tom R. Governor LeRoy Collins of Florida: Spokesman of the New South. (1985). 264 pp. Democratic governor 1955–61
Cities, regions, social and economic history
- Bartley, Abel A. Keeping the Faith: Race, Politics, and Social Development in Jacksonville, Florida, 1940–1970. (2000). 177 pp. online edition
- Brown, Canter, Jr. Tampa in the Civil War and Reconstruction. (2000). 246 pp.
- Brown, Canter, Jr. In the Midst of All That Makes Life Worth Living: Polk County, Florida, to 1940. (2001). 325 pp. online review
- Brown, Canter, Jr. None Can Have Richer Memories: Polk County, Florida 1940–2000 (2005) online review
- Croucher, Sheila L. Imagining Miami: Ethnic Politics in a Postmodern World. (1997). 235 pp.
- Drobney, Jeffrey. Lumbermen and Log Sawyers: Life, Labor, and Culture in the North Florida Timber Industry, 1830–1930. (1997). 241 pp.
- Dunn, Marvin. Black Miami in the Twentieth Century. (1997). 414 pp.
- Faherty, William Barnaby Florida's Space Coast: The Impact of NASA on the Sunshine State. (2002) 224pp online review
- García, María Cristina. Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida, 1959–1994. (1996). 290 pp. online review
- Grant, Roger H. Rails through the Wiregrass: A History of the Georgia & Florida Railroad (2007)
- Hann, John H. Apalachee: The Land between the Rivers. (1988). 450 pp.
- Hollander, Gail M. Raising Cane in the 'Glades: The Global Sugar Trade and the Transformation of Florida (2007)
- Kerstein, Robert. Politics and Growth in Twentieth-Century Tampa. (2001). 440 pp.
- McNally, Michael J. Catholic Parish Life on Florida's West Coast, 1860–1968. (1996). 503 pp.
- McNally, Michael J. Catholicism in South Florida, 1868–1968. (1982). 316 pp.
- Middleton, Sallie. "Space Rush: Local Impact of Federal Aerospace Programs on Brevard and Surrounding Counties," Florida Historical Quarterly, Fall 2008, Vol. 87 Issue 2, pp 258–289
- Moore, Deborah Dash. To the Golden Cities: Pursuing the American Jewish Dream in Miami and L.A. (1994). 358 pp.
- Mormino, Gary R. Land of Sunshine, State of Dreams: A Social History of Modern Florida (2006)
- Mormino, Gary Ross and Pozzetta, George E. The Immigrant World of Ybor City: Italians and Their Latin Neighbors in Tampa, 1885–1985. (1987). 368 pp.
- Muir, Helen. Miami, USA. (1953) 355 pp.
- Otis, Katherine Ann. "Everything Old Is New Again: A Social and Cultural History of Life on the Retirement Frontier, 1950–2000" PhD dissertation; Dissertation Abstracts International, 2008, Vol. 69 Issue 4, p 1513-1513
- Portes, Alejandro and Stepick, Alex. City on the Edge: The Transformation of Miami. (1993). 281 pp.
- Portes, Alejandro and Rumbaut, Rubén G. Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation. (2001). 406 pp. children of immigrants in Miami
- Stronge, William B. The Sunshine Economy: An Economic History of Florida since the Civil War (2008)
- Turner, Gregg M. A Journey into Florida Railroad History (2008)
Environment
- Barnes, Jay. Florida's Hurricane History. (1998). 330 pp.
- Barnett, Cynthia. Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S. (2007). 240 pp. online review
- Grunwald, Michael, “Swamped: Harry Truman, South Florida, and the Changing Political Geography of American Conservation,” in The Environmental Legacy of Harry S. Truman, ed. Karl Boyd Brooks, pp 75–88. (Kirksville: Truman State University Press, 2009) . xxxvi, 145 pp. isbn 978-1-931112-93-2
- Kendrick, Baynard. A History of Florida Forests (2 vol 2007)
- McCally, David. The Everglades: An Environmental History. (1999). 215 pp.
- Miller, James J. An Environmental History of Northeast Florida. (1998). 223 pp.
- Ogden, Laura. "The Everglades Ecosystem and the Politics of Nature," American Anthropologist, March 2008, Vol. 110 Issue 1, pp 21–32
- Provenzo, Eugene F., and Asterie Baker Provenzo. In the Eye of Hurricane Andrew. (2002). 184 pp. online review
- Williams, John M. and Duedall, Iver W. Florida Hurricanes and Tropical Storms, 1871–2001. (2002). 176 pp. online review
Primary sources
- Phillips, Ulrich Bonnell, and James David Glunt, eds. Florida Plantation Records: From the Papers of George Noble Jones. (University Press of Florida, 2006). 596 pp. isbn 0-8130-2976-7; Originally published in 1927.
- Romans, Bernard. A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida. ed. by Kathryn E. Holland Braund, (1999). 442 pp. online review travel in 1770s
External links
- Florida at the time of Revolutionary War
- Florida Bureau of Archeological Research
- Florida Memory Project over 300,000 photographs and documents from the State Archives of Florida.
- http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?wpa:167:./temp/~ammem_8gRh::@@@mdb=mcc,gottscho,detr,nfor,wpa,aap,cwar,bbpix,cowellbib,calbkbib,consrvbib,bdsbib,dag,fsaall,gmd,pan,vv,presp,varstg,suffrg,nawbib,horyd,wtc,toddbib,mgw,ncr,ngp,musdibib,hlaw,papr,lhbumbib,rbpebib,lbcoll,alad,hh,aaodyssey,magbell,bbcards,dcm,raelbib,runyon,dukesm,lomaxbib,mtj,gottlieb,aep,qlt,coolbib,fpnas,aasm,scsm,denn,relpet,amss,aaeo,cola,tccc,curt,mharendt,lhbcbbib,eaa,haybib,mesnbib,fine,cwnyhs,svybib,mmorse,afcwwgbib,mymhiwebib,uncall,mfd,afcwip,mtaft,manz,llstbib,fawbib,berl,fmuever,cdn,upboverbib,mussm,cic,afcpearl,awh,awhbib,sgp,wright,lhbtnbib,afcesnbib,hurstonbib,mreynoldsbib,spaldingbib,sgproto,mffbib,afc911bib,mjm,mnwp,rbcmillerbib,molden,ww2map,hawp,omhbib,rbaapcbib,mal,ncpsbib,ncpm,lhbprbib,ftvbib,afcreed,aipn,cwband,flwpabib,wpapos,cmns,psbib,pin,coplandbibThe Story of Immokalee] 1938 WPAWorks Progress AdministrationThe Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
interview covering Florida's slave era and post-Civil WarAmerican Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
Reconstruction up through Great DepressionGreat DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Electronic record maintained by Library of CongressLibrary of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. Accessed January 15, 2007.