Various American Indian tribes have inhabited Florida for at least 14,000 years. In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León became the first known European to make landfall, calling the region La Florida (land of flowers) ([la floˈɾiða]) for its lush greenery and the Easter season (Pascua Florida in Spanish). Florida subsequently became the first area in the continental U.S. to be permanently settled by Europeans, with the settlement of St. Augustine, founded in 1565, being the oldest continuously inhabited city. Florida was a Spanish territory frequently attacked and coveted by Great Britain before Spain ceded it to the U.S. in 1819 in exchange for resolving the border dispute along the Sabine River in Spanish Texas. Florida was admitted as the 27th state on March 3, 1845, and was the principal location of the Seminole Wars (1816–1858), the longest and most extensive of the Indian Wars in U.S. history. The state seceded from the Union on January 10, 1861, becoming one of the seven original Confederate States, and was readmitted to the Union after the Civil War on June 25, 1868.
Location of the Miami Terrace Reef. Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Explorer (cropped).
The Miami Terrace Reef () is a coral reef off the coast of Florida stretching from South Miami to Boca Raton, in the Atlantic Ocean. It lies in depths of 650 to 2,000 feet (200 to 610 m) on top of a geological formation known as the Miami Terrace, a 40-mile (65 km) long shelf about 15 miles (24 km) off shore. Much of the platform remains unexplored, and new portions of the reef are still being discovered. University of Miami researchers discovered new reef sites there in December 2005.
... that in the span of three days, a Florida man was approved by bankruptcy courts to buy TV stations in Roanoke and Lynchburg, Virginia, and then arrested on charges of laundering millions in drug money?
... that a five-year-old boy, using paper and his mother's cigarette lighter, started a fire that consumed the transmitter of Florida radio station WEAR?
Image 20Juan Ponce de León was one of the first Europeans to set foot in the current United States; he led the first European expedition to Florida, which he named. (from History of Florida)
Image 28Snow is very uncommon in Florida, but has occurred in every major Florida city at least once; snow does fall very occasionally in North Florida (from Geography of Florida)
Image 33Soldiers and crowds in Downtown Miami 20 minutes after Japan's surrender ending World War II (1945). (from History of Florida)
Image 34A 1527 map by Vesconte Maggiolo showing the east coast of North America with "Tera Florida" at the top and "Lavoradore" at the bottom. (from History of Florida)
This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk·contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged (e.g. {{WikiProject Florida}}) or categorized correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.