Florida
Florida is situated mostly on a large
peninsula between the
Gulf of Mexico, the
Atlantic Ocean, and the
Straits of Florida. It extends to the northwest into a
panhandle, extending along the northern
Gulf of Mexico. It is bordered on the north by the states of
Georgia and
Alabama, and on the west, at the end of the panhandle, by Alabama. It is near the countries of the
Caribbean, particularly the
Bahamas and
Cuba.
At 345 feet (105 m)
above mean sea level,
Britton Hill is the highest point in Florida and the lowest highpoint of any U.S. state. Contrary to popular belief, however, Florida is not entirely "flat." Some places, such as
Clearwater, feature vistas that rise 50 to 100 feet (15–30 m) above the water. Much of the interior of Florida, typically 25 miles (40 km) or more away from the coastline, features rolling hills with elevations ranging from 100 to 250 feet (30–76 m) in many locations. Lake County holds the highest point of peninsular Florida,
Sugarloaf Mountain, at 312 feet (95 m).
Areas under control by the
National Park Service include:
*
Big Cypress National Preserve, near Lake Okeechobee
*
Biscayne National Park, near
Key Biscayne*
Canaveral National Seashore, near
Titusville*
Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, in St. Augustine
*
De Soto National Memorial, in
Bradenton*
Dry Tortugas National Park, at
Key West*
Everglades National Park*
Fort Caroline National Memorial, at
Jacksonville*
Fort Matanzas National Monument, in St. Augustine
*
Gulf Islands National Seashore, near
Gulf Breeze*
Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, in Jacksonville
See also List of Florida state parksBoundaries
The state line begins in the
Atlantic Ocean, traveling west, south, and north up the
thalweg of the
Saint Mary's River. At the origin of that river, it then follows a straight line nearly due west and slightly north, to the point where the
confluence of the
Flint River (from Georgia) and the
Chattahoochee River (down the Alabama/Georgia line) used to form Florida's
Apalachicola River. (Since Woodruff Dam was built,this point has been under Lake Seminole.) The border with Georgia continues north through the lake for a short distance up the former thalweg of the Chattahoochee, then with Alabama runs due west along
latitude 31°N to the
Perdido River, then south along its thalweg to the Gulf via Perdido Bay.
Climate
|
Hurricane Frances near peak strength. |
|
The "Cold Sunday" of January 1982 ruined most of the orange crop in Florida. |
The climate of Florida is tempered somewhat by its proximity to water. Most of the state has a humid subtropical climate, with the
Florida Keys bordering on a true tropical climate. Cold fronts can occasionally bring high winds and cool to cold temperatures to the entire state during late fall and winter. One such front swept through the peninsula on
November 25 1996, bringing cold temperatures and winds up to 95 miles per hour (150 km/h), knocking out power to thousands and damaging mobile homes. However, Florida averages 300 days of full sunshine a year. The seasons in Florida are actually determined more by
precipitation than by temperature with mild to cool, relatively dry
winters and
autumns (the dry season) and hot, wet
springs and
summers (the wet season). The
Gulf Stream has a moderating effect on the climate, and although much of Florida commonly sees a high summer temperature over 90 degrees
Fahrenheit (32°C), the mercury seldom exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit (39°C). The hottest temperature ever recorded in the state was 109°F (43°C), set on
June 29 1931 in
Monticello. The coldest was â€"2°F (âˆ'19°C), on
February 13 1899, just 25 miles (40 km) away, in
Tallahassee. Mean high temperatures for late July are primarily in the low 90s Fahrenheit (32â€"35°C). Mean low temperatures for late January range from the low 40s Fahrenheit (4â€"7°C) in northern Florida to the mid-50s (≈13°C)in southern Florida.
The Florida Keys, being surrounded by water, generally have a more tropical climate, with lesser variability in temperatures. At
Key West, temperatures rarely exceed 90°F in the summer or fall below 60°F in the winter.
Florida's nickname is the "Sunshine State," but severe weather is a common occurrence in the state.
Central Florida is known as the
lightning capital of the United States, as it experiences more lightning strikes than anywhere else in the country. Florida has the highest average precipitation of any state, in large part because afternoon
thunderstorms are common in most of the state from late spring until early autumn. A fair day may be interrupted with a storm, only to return to regular, gorgeous sunshine. These thunderstorms, caused by collisions between airflow from the
Gulf of Mexico and airflow from the
Atlantic Ocean, pop up in the early afternoon and can bring heavy downpours, high winds, and sometimes
tornadoes. Florida leads the United States in tornadoes per square mile, but these tornadoes do not typically reach the intensity of those in the
Midwest and
Great Plains.
Hail often accompanies the severest thunderstorms.
Snow is a rare occurrence in Florida. During the
Great Blizzard of 1899, Florida experienced
blizzard conditions for possibly the first time since explorers had arrived. During that time, the
Tampa Bay Area had "gulf-effect" snow, similar to
lake-effect snow. The Great Blizzard of 1899 is the only time the temperature in the state is known to have fallen below 0 degrees Fahrenheit (âˆ'18°C). The most widespread snowfall in Florida history happened in February 1978, when snow fell over much of the state in different times of the month, as far south as
Homestead. Snow
flurries fell on
Miami Beach for the only time in recorded history. 1982's "
Cold Sunday," which saw freezing conditions throughout much of the country, ruined that year's orange crops. In 1989, a severe hard freeze created lots of ice and also caused minor flurries in sections of the state and resulted in rolling blackouts from power failures caused by massive demands on the power grid for heating. A hard freeze in
2003 brought "ocean-effect" snow flurries to the Atlantic coast as far south as
Cape Canaveral. [
1].
Although some storms have formed out of season,
hurricanes pose a threat during hurricane season, which lasts from
June 1 to
November 30. Florida saw a slew of destruction in 2004, when it was hit by a record four hurricanes. Hurricanes
Charley (
August 13),
Frances (
September 4â€"
5),
Ivan (
September 16), and
Jeanne (
September 25â€"
26) cumulatively cost the state's economy US$42 billion. In 2005,
Hurricane Dennis (
July 10) became the fifth storm to strike Florida within eleven months. Later,
Hurricane Katrina (
August 25) passed through
South Florida and
Hurricane Rita (
September 20) swept through the
Florida Keys.
Hurricane Wilma made landfall in Florida in the early morning of
October 24 as a
Category 3 hurricane, with the storm's eye hitting near
Cape Romano, just south of
Marco Island, according to
National Hurricane Center.
Florida was the site of the second costliest weather disaster in U.S. history,
Hurricane Andrew, which caused more than US$25
billion in damage when it struck on
August 24,
1992. In a long list of other infamous hurricane strikes are the 1926
Great Miami Hurricane, the
Lake Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928, the
Labor Day Hurricane of 1935,
Hurricane Donna in 1960, and
Hurricane Opal in 1995.
Environmental issues
Florida is the fifth-largest producer of greenhouse gases among the 50 U.S. states. This may coincide with the fact that Florida is the fourth most populous state in the United States. Climatologists and scientists debate whether global warming is to blame for an increase in the number of strong hurricanes. The scientists Peter Webster and Judith Curry of the
Georgia Institute of Technology published research in 2005 showing an increase in global hurricane intensity, with a doubling of the number of Category 4 or 5 hurricanes since 1970. That increase coincides with a rise of nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit in ocean surface temperatures. They argue that there is a connection, while Florida's state climatologist, James O'Brien, argues the increase in stronger storms is merely part of a natural cycle.[
2]
|
Five of the flags that have been flown over Florida throughout the centuries. |
Archaeological finds indicate that Florida had been inhabited for thousands of years before any European settlements. Of the many indigenous people, the largest known were the
Ais, the
Apalachee, the
Calusa, the
Timucua and the
Tocobago tribes.
Juan Ponce de León, a Spanish
conquistador, named Florida in honor of his "discovery" of the land on
April 2 1513, during
Pascua Florida, a Spanish term for the
Easter season. From that date forward, the land became known as "La Florida." (Juan Ponce de León may not have been the first European to reach Florida. At least one Indian that he encountered in Florida in 1513 could speak
Spanish.
[Smith, Hale G., and Marc Gottlob. 1978. "Spanish-Indian Relationships: Synoptic History and Archaeological Evidence, 1500-1763." In Tacachale: Essays on the Indians of Florida and Southeastern Georgia during the Historic Period. Edited by Jerald Milanich and Samuel Proctor. Gainesville, Florida: University Presses of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-0535-3]. Alternatively, the Spanish-speaking Indian could have been in contact with areas where Spanish settlements already existed, and Ponce de León was indeed the discoverer).
Over the following century, both the Spanish and
French established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success. In 1559, Spanish
Pensacola was established by Don
Tristán de Luna y Arellano as the first European settlement in the continental United States, but it had become abandoned by 1561 and would not be reinhabited until the 1690s. French
Huguenots founded
Fort Caroline in modern-day
Jacksonville in 1564, but this fort was conquered by forces from the new Spanish colony of
St. Augustine the following year. After Huguenot leader
Jean Ribault had learned of the new Spanish threat, he launched an expedition to sack the Spanish settlement; en route, however, severe storms at sea waylaid the expedition, which consisted of most of the colony's men, allowing St. Augustine founder
Pedro Menéndez de Avilés time to march his men over land and conquer Fort Caroline. Most of the Huguenots were slaughtered, and Menéndez de Avilés marched south and captured the survivors of the wrecked French fleet, ordering all but a few
Catholics executed beside a river subsequently called
Matanzas (
Spanish for 'killings'). St. Augustine came to serve as the capitals of the British and Spanish colonies of
East and
West Florida, respectively. The Spanish never had a firm hold on Florida, and maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the local tribes, briefly with
Jesuits and later with
Franciscan friars. The local leaders (
caciques) demonstrated their loyalty to the Spanish by converting to Roman Catholicism and welcoming the Franciscan priests into their villages.
The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of
British colonies to the north and
French colonies to the west. The English weakened Spanish power in the area by supplying their
Creek Indian allies with firearms and urging them to raid the
Timucuan and
Apalachee client-tribes of the Spanish. The English attacked St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to the ground several times, while the citizens hid behind the walls of the
Castillo de San Marcos. The Spanish, meanwhile, encouraged slaves to flee the British-held
Carolinas and come to Florida, where they were converted to Roman Catholicism and given freedom. They settled in a buffer community north of St. Augustine, called Gracie Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, the first completely black settlement in what would become the United States. Great Britain gained control of Florida diplomatically in 1763 through the
Peace of Paris (the Castillo de San Marcos surrendered for the first time, having never been taken militarily). England tried to develop Florida through the importation of immigrants for labor, including some from
Minorca and
Greece, but this project ultimately failed. Spain regained Florida after England's defeat by the American colonies and the Treaty of Paris, in 1783. Finally, in 1819, by terms of the
Adams-OnÃs Treaty, Spain ceded Florida to the United States in exchange for the American renounciation of any claims on
Texas. On
March 3 1845, Florida became the 27th state of the United States of America. On
January 10 1861, before the formal outbreak of the
Civil War, Florida seceded from the
Union; ten days later, the state became a founding member of the
Confederate States of America. The war ended in 1865. On
June 25,
1868, Florida's
congressionalrepresentation was restored.
Until the mid-twentieth century, Florida was the least populous Southern state; however, the local climate, tempered by the growing availability of
air conditioning, made the state a haven, and migration from the
Rust Belt and the Northeast sharply increased the population. Economic prosperity combined with Florida's sudden elevation in profile led to the
Florida land boom of the 1920s, which brought a brief period of intense land development before the
Great Depression brought it all to a halt. Florida's economy would not fully recover until
WWII. Today, Florida is the most populous state in the South besides
Texas, and the fourth most populous in the United States.
| Historical populations |
|---|
Census
year | Population |
|---|
|
| 1830 | 34,730 |
| 1840 | 54,477 |
| 1850 | 87,445 |
| 1860 | 140,424 |
| 1870 | 187,748 |
| 1880 | 269,493 |
| 1890 | 391,422 |
| 1900 | 528,542 |
| 1910 | 752,619 |
| 1920 | 968,470 |
| 1930 | 1,468,211 |
| 1940 | 1,897,414 |
| 1950 | 2,771,305 |
| 1960 | 4,951,560 |
| 1970 | 6,789,443 |
| 1980 | 9,746,324 |
| 1990 | 12,937,926 |
| 2000 | 15,982,378 |
As of 2005, Florida has an estimated population of 17,789,864, an increase of 404,434 (2.3%) from the prior year and an increase of 1,807,040 (11.3%) since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 246,058 people (that is, 1,115,565 births minus 869,507 deaths) and an increase from net migration of 1,585,704 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 528,085 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 1,057,619.
Race and ancestry
| Florida Population Density Map |
More than 16 percent of Florida's population was Hispanic in the 2000 Census. The largest reported ancestries in the 2000 Census were German (11.8%), Irish (10.3%), English (9.2%), American (8%) and Italian (6.3%).[3] |
Before the
American Civil War, when
slavery was legal, and during the
Reconstruction era that followed,
African Americans formed a majority of the state's population. Their proportion declined over the next century, as many moved north in the
Great Migration while large numbers of northern whites moved to the state. Recently, the state's proportion of black residents has begun to grow again. Today, large concentrations of black residents can be found in northern Florida (notably in
Jacksonville,
Gainesville and
Pensacola), the
Tampa Bay area, and
South Florida (where their numbers have been bolstered by significant immigration from
Haiti and
Jamaica).
Florida's
Hispanic population includes large communities of
Cuban Americans in
Miami and
Tampa, Puerto Ricans in Tampa and
Orlando, and
Central American migrant workers in inland West-Central and South Florida. The Hispanic community continues to grow more affluent and mobile: between the years of
2000 and
2004,
Lee County in
southwest Florida, which is largely suburban in character, had the fastest Hispanic population growth rate of any county in the United States.[
4]
Whites of all ethnicities are present in all areas of the state. Those of
British ancestry are present in large numbers in the coastal cities. There is a large
German population in
Southwest Florida, a sizeable and historic
Italian community in the
Miami area, and white Floridians of longer-present generations in the culturally southern areas of inland and northern Florida. Native white Floridians, especially those who have descended from long-time Florida families, affectionately referred to themselves as "
Florida Crackers."
Languages
As of 2000, 76.9 percent of Florida residents age 5 and older speak only
English at home, while 16.5 percent speak
Spanish.
French is the third most spoken language at 2.2 percent, followed by
German at 0.6 percent and
Italian at 0.4 percent.
Article II, Section 9, of the
Florida Constitution provides that "English is the official language of the State of Florida." This provision was adopted in 1988 by a vote following an Initiative Petition.
Religion
Florida is mostly Protestant, with a Roman Catholic community that is growing because of immigration. There is also a sizable Jewish community, located mainly in South Florida; no other Southern state has such a large Jewish population. Florida's current religious affiliations are shown in the table below:
*
Christian, 82%
**
Protestant, 54%
***
Baptist, 19%
***
Methodist, 6%
***
Presbyterian, 4%
***
Episcopal, 3%
***
Lutheran, 3%
***
Pentecostal, 3%
***Other Protestant, 16%
**
Roman Catholic, 26%
**Other Christian, 2%
*
Jewish, 4%
*Other Religions, 1%
*Non-Religious, 13%
The basic structure, duties, function, and operations of the government of the State of Florida are defined and established by the
Florida Constitution, which establishes the basic law of the state and guarantees various rights and freedoms of the people. The state government consists of three separate branches: judicial, executive, and legislative. The
legislature enacts bills, which, if signed by the
governor, become
Florida Statutes.
The
Florida Legislature is comprised of the
Florida Senate, which has 40 members, and the
Florida House of Representatives, which has 120 members. The current
Governor of Florida is
Republican Jeb Bush, brother of U.S. President
George W. Bush and son of former U.S. President
George H. W. Bush. The
Florida Supreme Court consists of a Chief Justice and six Justices.
|
A map of Florida showing county names and boundaries. |
Florida was traditionally a
Democratic state; at one time,
68.5 percent of all Floridians were registered Democrats. In the last decades of the twentieth century, the realignment of the "
Solid South" has led many conservative Democrats of Florida to vote with the Republican Party. This tendency, combined with explosive population growth, which has brought many
Republicans into the state, has given Florida a Republican edge in practice, though registered Democrats still outnumber registered Republicans. As a result, Republicans control the governorship and most other statewide elective offices: both houses of the state legislature, 18 of the state's 25 seats in the
House of Representatives, and one of the state's two
Senate seats. The disputed
2000 Presidential election in Florida was extremely close. Because of the state's population and number of electoral votes, political analysts consider it to be a key
swing state in
presidential elections. The
Tampa area, once a major center of Democratic
union support, is now almost evenly split between registered Republicans and Democrats, making it part of the important
I-4 Corridor swing region.
The gross state product of Florida in 2005 was $596 billion[
5]. Personal income was $30,098 per capita, ranking 26
th in the nation.
Florida's economy relies heavily on tourism. About 60 million visitors visit the state every year. Warm weather and hundreds of miles of beach attract vacationers from around the world. The
Walt Disney World Resort, a mega-resort consisting of four
theme parks, more than twenty hotels, water parks, shopping centers, and other attractions, is an important tourist attraction located in
Lake Buena Vista. Together, Walt Disney World, and other theme park resorts such as
Universal Orlando Resort and
SeaWorld, are an important driver of the Central Florida economy.
Other major industries include
citrus fruit and juice production, banking, and
phosphate mining within the
Bone Valley region. With the arrival of the space program at
Kennedy Space Center in the 1960s, Florida has developed a sizeable aerospace industry. The state did not have a state minimum wage law until
November 2,
2004, when voters passed a constitutional amendment establishing a state minimum wage and mandating that it be adjusted for inflation every six months.
Historically, Florida's economy was based upon cattle farming and agriculture (especially
sugarcane,
citrus,
tomatoes, and
strawberries). In the early 1900, land speculators discovered Florida, and Plant and Henry Flagler developed railway systems, which led people to move in, drawn by the weather and local economies. From then on, tourism boomed, fueling a cycle of development and tourism that overwhelmed a great deal of farmland.
In 2004 and 2005, key industries along the west coastâ€"commercial fishing and water-based tourist activities (sports fishing and diving)â€"were threatened by outbreaks of red tide, a discoloration of seawater caused by an efflorescence of toxin-producing dinoflagellates.
Florida is one of the nine states that do not impose a personal
income tax (
list of others). The state imposes a tax on "intangible personal property" (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, money market funds, etc.), but in April, 2006, the state legislature was considering a repeal of the tax. [
6] The state
sales tax rate is 6% [
7]. Local governments may levy an additional local option sales tax of up to 1.5%. A locale's
use-tax rate is the same as its sales-tax rate, including local options, if any. Use taxes are payable for purchases made out of state and brought into Florida within six months of the purchase date. Other taxes are mostly levied on businesses. They include the following taxes: corporate income, communication services, intangibles, unemployment, solid waste, documentary stamps, insurance premium, pollutants, and various fuel taxes. For more information, visit the Florida Department of Revenue website at [
8].
Florida's public primary and secondary schools are administered by the
Florida Department of Education.
Florida's public-school revenue per student and spending per $1000 of personal income usually rank in the bottom 25 percent of U.S. states. Average teacher salaries rank near the middle of U.S. states.
Florida public schools have consistently ranked in the bottom 25 percent of many national surveys and average test-score rankings. Many education surveys are not scientific, but measure prestige.
Governor Jeb Bush has been criticized by many Florida educators for a program that penalizes underperforming schools (as indicated by
standardized tests, most prominently the
FCAT) with fewer funding dollars. Supporters say the program's tough measures have resulted in vast improvements to the education system. Major testing organizations frequently discount the use of state's average test-score rankings, or any average of scaled scores, as a valid metric (for details on scaled test scores, see
psychometrics).
Florida is home to many well-respected institutions, such as
University of Florida, the
University of Miami,
Florida State University,
Stetson University, the
University of Tampa, and
Eckerd College.
In 2000, the governor and the state legislature abolished the
Florida Board of Regents, which long had governed the
State University System of Florida, and created boards of trustees to govern each university. As is typical of executive-appointed government boards, the appointees so far have overwhelmingly belonged to the governor's party. This effect has not been without controversy.
[9] In 2002, former governor and then
U.S. Senator Bob Graham (
Dem.) led a
consitutional-amendment ballot referendum designed to restore the board-of-regents system. Voters responded by creating the
Florida Board of Governors; however, each university still maintains a Board of Trustees which work under this new, overseeing Board of Governors.
Colleges and universities
Highways
Florida's
interstates,
state highways and
U.S. Highways are maintained by the
Florida Department of Transportation.
Florida's interstate highway system contains 1,473 miles (2,371 km) of highway, and there are 9,934 miles (15,987 km) of non-interstate highway in the state, such as
Florida state highways and
U.S. Highways.
Florida's primary interstate routes include:
*
I-4, which bisects the state, connecting
Tampa,
Lakeland,
Orlando, and
Daytona Beach, having junctions with I-95 at Daytona Beach and I-75 at Tampa.
*
I-10, which traverses the panhandle, connecting
Jacksonville,
Lake City,
Tallahassee and
Pensacola, having junctions with I-95 at Jacksonville and I-75 at Lake City.
*
I-75, which enters the state near Lake City (45 miles west of
Jacksonville) and continues southward through
Gainesville,
Ocala, Tampa's eastern suburbs,
Bradenton,
Sarasota, and
Fort Myers to
Naples, where it crosses the "Alligator Alley" as a
toll road to
Fort Lauderdale before turning southward and terminating in
Hialeah having junctions with I-10 at Lake City and I-4 at Tampa.
*
I-95, which enters the state near Jacksonville and continues along the Atlantic Coast through Daytona Beach,
Melbourne/Titusville,
Palm Bay,
Vero Beach,
Fort Pierce,
Port Saint Lucie,
Stuart,
West Palm Beach, and Ft. Lauderdale before terminating in
Miami, having junctions with I-10 at Jacksonville and I-4 at Daytona Beach.
Florida's secondary interstate routes include:
*
I-110, a spur from I-10 into downtown Pensacola.
*
I-175, which connects I-275 to southern downtown
St. Petersburg.
*
I-195, an extension of Miami's Airport Expressway (
S.R. 112); a spur eastward from I-95 to
Miami Beach.
*
I-275, a sixty-mile (100 km)[
10] westward loop from I-75 north of
Ellenton, over the
Sunshine Skyway Bridge, through St. Petersburg, to
Tampa International Airport and downtown Tampa, reconnecting with I-75 in Tampa's northern suburbs.
*
I-295, a partial beltway around Jacksonville that will loop completely around the city by 2007.
*
I-375, which connects I-275 to northern downtown St. Petersburg.
*
I-395, an extension of Miami's Dolphin Expressway (
S.R. 836); a spur eastward from I-95 to Miami Beach.
*
I-595, which connects I-75, I-95,
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and
Port Everglades.
Florida has several
toll roads, totaling 515 miles (830 km) of the state highway system. Major toll roads include:
*I-75, as it passes through the
Everglades between Naples and Fort Lauderdale has been
grandfathered as a toll road from its original construction as
S.R. 84*
Florida's Turnpike, which begins at Interstate 75 south of Ocala and continues southeast through Orlando, Port Saint Lucie, and south through the western suburbs of Fort Lauderdale and Miami to
HomesteadFor more information about the myriad secondary toll expressways in Florida, see articles detailing roads maintained by the
Florida Turnpike Authority, the
Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, and the
Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority.
Intercity rail
In 2000, voters approved a constitutional amendment to construct a high-speed rail system to interconnect Florida's major cities. A committee was formed by the
Florida Legislature to oversee the project; however, in 2004, Governor
Jeb Bush and other lawmakers pushed for an amendment to remove the amendment, which succeeded. They stated that the cost would have been too high to construct the system, but proponents of the system said the claims regarding high cost were exaggerated and taken out of context, compared with the cost of building roads, maintaining automobiles, and so forth. The
Florida High Speed Rail Authority, originally formed to implement the high-speed-rail amendment, has vowed to find a way to implement the system without the amendment.
Amtrak service exists in Florida:
Sanford, in
Greater Orlando, is the southern terminus of the
Amtrak Auto Train, which originates at
Lorton, Virginia, south of
Washington, DC. Orlando is also the eastern terminus of the
Sunset Limited, which travels across the southern United States via
New Orleans,
Houston, and
San Antonio to its western terminus of
Los Angeles. Florida is served by two additional Amtrak trains (the
Silver Star and the
Silver Meteor), which operate between
New York City and
Miami.
Public transportation
Public transportation systems exist in many major cities.
Miami has an automated guideway people-mover system, as well as a 22-mile
metro system, and most cities have
bus service. In the South Florida Metropolitan area, train service is provided by
Tri-Rail; this service has a southern terminus in Miami and a northern terminus in
West Palm Beach. It has been proposed that the northern terminus be extended north as far as Stuart, but no progress has been made. Tri-Rail provides local bus service from its stations.
Greyhound provides commercial bus service between different cities in Florida.
Airports
Florida's major international airports, which process more than 20 million passengers annually are
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport,
Miami International Airport,
Orlando International Airport, and
Tampa International Airport. Secondary airports, with annual passenger traffic exceeding 7 million annually include
Jacksonville International Airport,
Palm Beach International Airport (West Palm Beach), and
Southwest Florida International Airport (Fort Myers).
Other smaller, regional airports with commercial service include those at
Daytona Beach,
Fort Walton Beach,
Gainesville,
Key West,
Melbourne,
Naples,
Panama City,
Pensacola,
Tallahassee.
Orlando Sanford International Airport is primarily served by international charter airlines.
|
Distribution of Metropolitan Statistical Areas in Florida |
Florida has nineteen
Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) defined by the
United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Thirty-eight of Florida's sixty-seven counties are in an MSA. Reflecting the distribution of population in Florida, Metropolitan areas in the state are concentrated around the coast of the peninsula. They form a continuous band on the east coast of Florida, stretching from the Jacksonville MSA to the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach MSA, including nearly every county on the east coast, with the exceptions of
Flagler County and
Monroe County. There is also a continuous band of MSAs on the west coast of the peninsula from the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA to the Naples-Marco Island MSA, including all of the coastal counties from
Hernando County to
Collier County. The interior of the northern half of the peninsula also has several MSAs, connecting the east and west coast MSAs. A few MSAs are scattered across the Florida panhandle.
| | Metropolitan Statistical Areas | 2005 Population |
| | Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area | 549,442 |
| | Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area | 494,649 |
| | Fort Walton Beach-Crestview-Destin Metropolitan Statistical Area | 188,939 |
| | Gainesville Metropolitan Statistical Area | 256,985 |
| | Jacksonville Metropolitan Statistical Area | 1,277,763 |
| | Lakeland Metropolitan Statistical Area | 541,840 |
| | Miami-Ft.Lauderdale-West Palm Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area | 5,422,200 |
| | Naples-Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area | 317,788 |
| | Ocala Metropolitan Statistical Area | 304,926 |
| | Orlando-Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area | 1,861,707 |
| | Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area
| 531,970 |
| | Panama City-Lynn Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area | 161,721 |
| | Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area | 439,877 |
| | Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce Metropolitan Statistical Area
| 381,033 |
| | Punta Gorda Metropolitan Statistical Area | 154,030 |
| | Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice Metropolitan Statistical Area | 673,035 |
| | Sebastian-Vero Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area | 130,043 |
| | Tallahassee Metropolitan Statistical Area | 334,886 |
| | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area | 2,589,637 |
Spring training
Florida is the traditional home for Major League Baseball spring training, with teams informally organized into the "
Grapefruit League."
As of 2004, Florida hosts the following major league teams for spring training:
Auto-racing tracks
*
Daytona International Speedway*
Homestead-Miami Speedway*
Sebring Raceway*
St. Petersburg Raceway*Nickname: "The Sunshine State"
*State Motto: "In God we trust"
*State Bird:
Mockingbird*State Flower:
Orange blossom - (Citrus sinensis)
*State Insect:
Zebra Longwing Butterfly [
11]
*State Song: "
Old Folks at Home (
Suwannee River)" by Stephen C. Foster
*State Tree:
Sabal Palm *State Reptile:
American Alligator*State Animal:
Florida Panther*State Marine Mammal:
West Indian Manatee*State Saltwater Mammal:
Dolphin*State Drink:
Orange juice*State Fruit:
Orange*State Shell:
Horse Conch (The great band shell)
*State Saltwater Fish:
Sailfish*State Freshwater Fish: Florida
Largemouth Bass*State Pie:
Key Lime Pie*
List of Florida bike trails*
Scouting in Florida*The
USS Florida was named in honor of the state.
*
The Official Portal of the State of Florida*
Florida Memory Project Over 300,000 photographs and documents from the State Library & Archives of Florida
*
U.S. Census Bureau*
Florida Employment Data*
Economic and farm demographics fact sheet from the USDA*
Florida Maps & Satellite Image
