Florida

Florida

Area:

58,560sq. miles/151,670sq.km

Capital: Tallahassee

Popular name: Sunshine State

Situation and topography

The state of Florida (from the Spanish Pascua Florida = Palm Sunday, the day on which it was discovered in 1513) occupies the peninsula of that name in the south-eastern United States, which separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Gulf of Mexico, together with the "Panhandle", a narrow strip of land on the north-eastern Gulf Coast. The Sunshine State is one of the great centres of both American and international tourism. Its wide beaches of white sand, its unspoiled expanses of swampland still inhabited by alligators and panthers, its crystal-clear springs and coral reefs with their colourful underwater life, its huge theme parks (Walt Disney World, Busch Gardens, Universal Studios, etc.) and not least Spaceport USA on Cape Canaveral make a visit to Florida a very special holiday experience. The Florida peninsula is a region of sedimentary rocks with great expanses of sand, limestone tableland much dissected by karstic action and wide areas of swamp. The landscape is patterned by numerous lakes (often formed in dolines or poljes), coastal lagoons and spits of land, mangrove swamps in the south and south-east, wide estuaries and offshore coral reefs. Seen from the air, it is clear that not so long ago the northern part of the peninsula was mainly covered with pine forests, the south with marshy grassland, cypress swamps and "hammocks" (patches of primeval forest).

History

between about 10,000 and 8000 b.c. hunters and food-gatherers began to move into the Florida peninsula. There is evidence of a first cultural flowering in the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. Around A.D. 1500 European navigators sailed along the coasts, and on Palm Sunday (Pascua Florida) in 1513 Ponce de Leon landed in the estuary of the St John's River. Soon afterwards Spaniards and Frenchmen were fighting for predominance in the newly discovered territory. In 1665 the first European settlement in the United States was established at St Augustine. In the 18th and 19th centuries Florida was a bone of contention between Spain and Britain; then in 1819 it passed to the United States. After the Seminole War (1835-42) most of the Indians were deported to Oklahoma. During the American Civil War (1861-65) Florida sided with the Confederates. Towards the end of the 19th century the railroad magnates Flagler and Plant began to open up the south-eastern United States for tourism. Florida suffered setbacks to its development as a result of the war with Spain in 1898 and devastating hurricanes in 1926 and 1928. During the Second World War training camps, military camps and rest homes were established in the state, and aircraft construction and shipbuilding flourished. In 1958 the first American space satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, followed three years later by the first manned space flights, culminating in Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin's landing on the moon in 1969. In 1980 there were violent race riots in the city of Miami. Then more than 140,000 Cuban refugees poured into southern Florida. The "Challenger" catastrophe of 1986 was a severe setback to the American space programme. In 1992 race riots in Los Angeles sparked off similar disturbances in Tampa and Miami, and in the same year Hurricane Andrew brought devastation to southern Florida.

Economy

The most important branch of Florida's economy is the holiday and tourist trade, centred mainly on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and round Orlando with its giant theme parks. In 1992 Florida had some 40 million visitors. It is also becoming an increasingly important financial centre, with over 170 international financial institutions based in Miami alone. In the industrial sector the most important elements are the processing of agricultural produce (particularly fruit juices and concentrates, sweets, essential oils, preservatives) and aircraft and space technology. The main agricultural crops are citrus fruits, sugar-cane and vegetables. Stock farming, fishing and forestry also make important contributions to the economy. Other sources of income are phosphates (one-third of world output), titanium and zircon from dune sands, lime and cement production and offshore oil and natural gas.