Portal:Florida

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The Florida Portal

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

Various Native American groups 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 ([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 Spanish colony of St. Augustine, founded in 1565, being the oldest continuously inhabited city. Florida was repeatedly contested by Spain and Great Britain before being ceded to the U.S. in 1819; it was admitted as the 27th state on March 3, 1845. Florida was the principal location of the Seminole Wars (1816–1858), the longest and most extensive of the Indian Wars in U.S. history. The state seceded from the Union on January 10, 1861, becoming one of the seven original Confederate States, and was readmitted to the Union after the Civil War on June 25, 1868.

Since the mid-20th century, Florida has experienced rapid demographic and economic growth. Its economy, with a gross state product (GSP) of $1.4 trillion, is the fourth-largest of any U.S. state and the 16th-largest in the world; the main sectors are tourism, hospitality, agriculture, real estate, and transportation. Florida is world-renowned for its beach resorts, amusement parks, warm and sunny climate, and nautical recreation; attractions such as Walt Disney World, the Kennedy Space Center, and Miami Beach draw tens of millions of visitors annually. Florida is a popular destination for retirees, seasonal vacationers, and both domestic and international migrants; it hosts nine out of the ten fastest-growing communities in the U.S. The state's close proximity to the ocean has shaped its culture, identity, and daily life; its colonial history and successive waves of migration are reflected in African, European, Indigenous, Latino, and Asian influences. Florida has attracted or inspired some of the most prominent American writers, including Ernest Hemingway, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes, particularly in golf, tennis, auto racing, and water sports. Florida has been considered a battleground state in American presidential elections, particularly those in 2000, 2016, and 2020. (Full article...)

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Köppen climate types of Florida, using 1991–2020 climate normals.

The climate of the north and central parts of the US state of Florida is humid subtropical. South Florida has a tropical climate. There is a defined rainy season from May through October when air mass thundershowers that build in the heat of the day drop heavy but brief summer rainfall.

In October, the dry season sets in across much of Florida (starting early in the month in northern Florida and near the end of the month in deep southern Florida) and lasts until late April in most months. Fronts from mid-latitude storms north of Florida occasionally pass through northern and central parts of the state which bring light and brief winter rainfall. Mid and late winter can become severely dry in Florida. In some years the dry season becomes quite severe and water restrictions are imposed to conserve water. While most areas of Florida do not experience any type of frozen precipitation, northern Florida can see fleeting snow or sleet a few times each decade. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

... that the uncommon Florida lichen species Gyalectidium yahriae was named after Rebecca Yahr of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in Scotland?
... that FBI informant Ricardo Morales, who testified against Cuban militant Orlando Bosch in 1968, shared a hotel with Bosch in 1976?
... that the owners of Florida radio station WPAS blamed an Associated Press teletype machine for starting a fire that burned it down?
... that Robin Denselow of The Guardian called Orlando Julius "one of the heroes of Nigerian music"?
... that Tracy R. Norris, the first female commander of the Texas Military Department, has masters degrees from Florida State University, the University of Texas, and the United States Army War College?
... that women including May Mann Jennings were responsible for creating Florida's first state park?

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The people of Florida in 2002 voted and approved class size limits in Florida to make sure that the State pays for smaller class sizes and not local districts

— Kendrick Meek

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The following are images from various Florida-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Platydemus manokwari in Florida (from Environment of Florida)
Image 2The expanded West Florida territory in 1767. (from History of Florida)
Image 3A map of Florida, as seen from outer space. (from Geography of Florida)
Image 4Andrew Jackson served as the first military Governor of Florida. (from History of Florida)
Image 5Soldiers and crowds in Downtown Miami 20 minutes after Japan's surrender ending World War II (1945). (from History of Florida)
Image 6Typical summer afternoon shower from the Everglades traveling eastward over Downtown Miami (from Geography of Florida)
Image 7The brick Capitol as built in 1845. (from History of Florida)
Image 8Sunniland stratigraphic column (from Environment of Florida)
Image 9Key deer in the lower Florida Keys (from Geography of Florida)
Image 10A 1591 map of Florida by Jacques le Moyne de Morgues. (from History of Florida)
Image 11Kennedy Space Center. (from History of Florida)
Image 12Juan 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 13South Florida's climate is ideal for growing sugarcane. (from Geography of Florida)
Image 14A shell midden at Enterprise, Florida in 1875. (from History of Florida)
Image 15A depiction of what might be Florida from the 1502 Cantino map (from History of Florida)
Image 16Tourists hunting in 1893 (from History of Florida)
Image 17A 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)
Image 18"Butterfly ballot" (from History of Florida)
Image 19Timucua Indians at a column erected by the French in 1562 (from History of Florida)
Image 20Sunniland Oil Fields (from Environment of Florida)
Image 21Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort (from History of Florida)
Image 22The Florida scrub jay is found only in Florida (from Geography of Florida)
Image 23Alligator in the Florida Everglades (from Geography of Florida)
Image 24Destruction in Lakes by the Bay near Miami following Hurricane Andrew (from History of Florida)
Image 25Hurricane Andrew bearing down on Florida on August 23, 1992 (from Geography of Florida)
Image 26The Battle of Olustee was the only major Civil War battle fought in Florida. (from History of Florida)
Image 27Fall foliage in North Florida (from Geography of Florida)
Image 28Seminole leader Osceola. (from History of Florida)
Image 29Royal Poinciana tree in full bloom in the Florida Keys, an indication of South Florida's tropical climate (from Geography of Florida)
Image 30Snow 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 31Köppen climate classification map of Florida. (from Geography of Florida)
Image 32Bernard Picart Copper Plate Engraving of Florida Indians, circa 1721 (from History of Florida)
Image 33Topographic map of Florida (from Geography of Florida)
Image 34Five flags of Florida, not including the current State Flag or France. (from History of Florida)

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William Cooley (1783–1863) was one of the first American settlers, and a regional leader, in what is now known as Broward County in the state of Florida. His family was killed by Seminoles in 1836, during the Second Seminole War. The attack, known as the "New River Massacre", caused immediate abandonment of the area by whites.

Cooley was born in Maryland, but little else is known about his life prior to 1813, when he arrived in East Florida, a province of Spanish Florida, as part of a military expedition. He established himself as a farmer in the northern part of the province before moving south, where he traded with local Indians and continued to farm. During the period in which the region was transferred from Spanish to U.S. governance, he sided with natives in a land dispute against a merchant who had received a large grant from the King of Spain and was evicting the Indians from their lands. Unhappy with the actions of the Spanish, he moved to the New River area in 1826 to get as far as possible from the Spanish influence. (Full article...)

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Image 1Farles Prairie in Ocala National Forest
Image 2Downtown Miami, viewed from Virginia Key
Image 3Fort Jefferson at the Dry Tortugas
Image 4Florida from space, taken by Shuttle Mission STS-95 on October 31, 1998
Image 5Fort Brooke was a historical military post situated on the east bank (at the mouth) of the Hillsborough River in present-day Tampa, Florida
Image 6Fountains at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in Tampa, Florida
Image 7A Cuban sandwich is a variation of a ham and cheese sandwich that originated among the Cuban workers in the cigar factories in Key West, Florida^[1]^[2]
Image 8The main street in Alachua downtown historic district
Image 9A Great blue heron at Alafia River State Park

Current events

March 7, 2023 –: A Piper J-3 Cub and Cherokee Piper 161 collide in midair over Lake Hartridge in Florida, United States, killing four people. (AP via KCBD-TV)

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Credit: FightingRaven531

Tampa is a United States city in Hillsborough County, on the west coast of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. The population of Tampa in 2000 was 303,447. According to the 2006 Census estimate, the city has a population of 332,888.

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This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs). 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. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.

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Florida Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission (2023-03-07) • WVUP-CD (2023-03-02) • Jett Howard (2023-02-22) • WJXX (2023-02-01) • 2022 Gasparilla Bowl (2023-01-22) • William Everett Potter (2023-01-16) • Killing of Sara-Nicole Morales (2023-01-12) • 2022 Boca Raton Bowl (2023-01-08) • 2022 Cure Bowl (2023-01-01) • Pipeline: The Surf Coaster (2022-11-03) • Jamie Keeton (2022-10-06) • Skeeter Reece (2022-10-04) • 2022 U.S. Open Cup Final (2022-10-04) • Cauley Square (2022-09-12) • Dania Beach Hurricane (2022-09-11) • Cheetah Hunt (2022-09-05) • Sean Barber (2022-09-01) • Lee Wachtstetter (2022-08-31) • Tigris (roller coaster) (2022-08-28) • Ken Russell (politician) (2022-08-25) • Chaz Stevens (2022-08-22) • Hank Goldberg (2022-08-16) • Dwight Smith (baseball) (2022-08-07) • Mario Salcedo (2022-08-06) • WPST-TV (2022-07-24) • Lance McCullers (2022-07-23) • WAQI (2022-07-18) • Iron Gwazi (2022-07-11) • The Mutiny Hotel (2022-06-09) • NetPark Tampa Bay (2022-06-08) • Dave Thomas (politician) (2022-06-04) • Royal Theater (St. Petersburg, Florida) (2022-05-05) • Disney and Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act (2022-04-21) • Mary Hayes Davis (2022-04-17) • Jovani Furlan (2022-03-24) • Peter Walker (dancer) (2022-03-21) • Jack Sweeney (2022-03-15) • WGBS-TV (2022-03-03) • WITV (Florida) (2022-03-02) • Milam Residence (2022-02-25) • Lake Worth Beach, Florida (2022-02-10) • Zigzag House (2022-02-07) • Comedian (artwork) (2022-01-28) • WTNT-FM (2022-01-27) • Surfing Santas (2021-12-24) • Moms for Liberty (2021-12-19) • Dinosaur Wildlife (2021-09-03) • Alfie Oakes (2021-08-19) • Flora Mae Hunter (2021-08-18) • Potential Tropical Cyclone Ten (2021-08-15)

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Tag all talk pages of Florida articles and categories with {{WPFlorida|class=|importance=}}. (The rater user script can be used to help tag articles.)
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Add county templates ({{Hamilton County, Florida}}, {{Jackson County, Florida}}, etc.) to appropriate cities.
Add appropriate short descriptions to Florida-related articles.

Sources

^ "Cuba's most famous food isn't even from Cuba — or Miami". Matador Network.
^ "Viva La Cuban Sandwich!". Farmers’ Almanac. March 20, 2015.

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[1] "Cuba's most famous food isn't even from Cuba — or Miami". Matador Network.

[2] "Viva La Cuban Sandwich!". Farmers’ Almanac. March 20, 2015.

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v t e State of Florida
Tallahassee (capital)
Topics	Index Climate (Climate change) Congressional Delegations Districts Education Environment (Environmental issues) Fauna Flora Geology Government Hurricanes Law Mass media Newspapers Radio TV Symbols Flag Motto Seal Tourist attractions Transportation	Seal of Florida
History	Timeline Spanish Florida Missions British Rule East Florida West Florida Seminole Florida Territory Seminole Wars Slavery Plantations of Leon County Civil War Florida East Coast Railway Florida land boom of the 1920s Cape Canaveral Kennedy Space Center Disney World
Geography	Beaches Caves Everglades (Drainage and development) Keys Lakes Lake Okeechobee Reef Rivers Sinkholes Springs State forests State parks Swamps
Major hurricanes	Florida Keys (1919) Tampa Bay (1921) Miami (1926) Okeechobee (1928) Florida Keys (1929) Treasure Coast (1933) Labor Day (1935) Dry Tortugas (1944) Homestead (1945) Fort Lauderdale (1947) South Florida (1948) 1949 Florida hurricane Easy (1950) King (1950) Donna (1960) Betsy (1965) Eloise (1975) Elena (1985) Andrew (1992) Opal (1995) Charley (2004) Frances (2004) Ivan (2004) Jeanne (2004) Dennis (2005) Wilma (2005) Matthew (2016) Irma (2017) Michael (2018) Dorian (2019) Sally (2020)
Society	African-American Crime Cuban-American culture Miami Tampa Culture Demographics Economy Education Floridians Haitian-American culture Delray Beach Miami Indigenous peoples Everglades Politics Sports
Regions	Big Bend Central Florida Emerald Coast Everglades First Coast Forgotten Coast Gold Coast Halifax area Heartland Keys Nature Coast North Central Florida North Florida Panhandle South Florida Southwest Florida Space Coast Suncoast Tampa Bay Area Treasure Coast
Metro areas	Cape Coral–Fort Myers Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach Gainesville Homosassa Springs Jacksonville Lakeland–Winter Haven Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Ocala Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville Panama City Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent Port St. Lucie Punta Gorda Sebastian-Vero Beach Sebring Tallahassee Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater The Villages
Largest cities	Jacksonville Miami Tampa Orlando St. Petersburg Hialeah Tallahassee Port St. Lucie Fort Lauderdale West Palm Beach Cape Coral Pembroke Pines Hollywood Miramar
Counties	Alachua Baker Bay Bradford Brevard Broward Calhoun Charlotte Citrus Clay Collier Columbia DeSoto Dixie Duval Escambia Flagler Franklin Gadsden Gilchrist Glades Gulf Hamilton Hardee Hendry Hernando Highlands Hillsborough Holmes Indian River Jackson Jefferson Lafayette Lake Lee Leon Levy Liberty Madison Manatee Marion Martin Miami‑Dade Monroe Mosquito (former county) Nassau Okaloosa Okeechobee Orange Osceola Palm Beach Pasco Pinellas Polk Putnam Santa Rosa Sarasota Seminole St. Johns St. Lucie Sumter Suwannee Taylor Union Volusia Wakulla Walton Washington