Florida was "discovered" by Juan Ponce deLeon in his quest for the Fountain of Youth. He claimed the land for Spain in 1513. The city of St. Augustine was founded in 1565, making it the oldest permanent city in the United States. About 300 years later the territory was sold to the United States by Spain. As a peninsula, Florida has the longest coastline of all the contiguous states (approx. 1350 miles) - it is also the only state to border both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
Until the National Football League granted the city of Miami the Dolphins in 1966, the state of Florida had no professional sports, with the exception of professional baseball's spring training. The Philadelphia Phillies started the practice in 1899, when the team trained in Jacksonville. The state now boasts three NFL Teams, two MLB teams, two NBA teams, and two NHL teams. Florida is also the home for the headquarters of NASCAR.
Tourism drives the states economy - with millions of Americans and visitors from around the world coming to the central part of the state to try on mouse ears and to "have a magical day!" There is also a new destination in the state which is on my list to visit. Florida is also home to half of the nation's space program with the facilities at Cape Canaveral / Kennedy Space Center.
The current Governor of Florida is Rick Scott, a Republican. Florida's Senators are split, Republican Marco Rubio, who is on Mitt Romney's short list to run as Vice President and Democrat Bill Nelson, who is being targeted this year, but should survive. There are 25 members in the Florida Congressional delegation, 6 Democrats and 19 Republicans.
- 1st District - Jeff Miller (R)
- 2nd District - Steve Southerland (R)
- 3rd District - Corrine Brown (D)
- 4th District - Ander Crenshaw (R)
- 5th District - Richard Nugent (R)
- 6th District - Cliff Stearns (R)
- 7th District - John Mica (R)
- 8th District - Daniel Webster (R) (no relation to the first Daniel Webster)
- 9th District - Gus Bilirakis (R)
- 10th District - C. W. Bill Young (R)
- 11th District - Kathy Castor (D)
- 12th District - Dennis Ross (R)
- 13th District - Vern Buchanan (R)
- 14th District - Connie Mack (R)
- 15th District - Bill Posey (R)
- 16th District - Tom Rooney (R)
- 17th District - Frederica Wilson (D)
- 18th District - Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R)
- 19th District - Ted Deutch (D)
- 20th District - Debbie Wasserman-Schutlz (D)
- 21st District - Mario Diaz-Balart (R)
- 22nd District - Allen West (R)
- 23rd District - Alcee Hastings (D)
- 24th District - Sandy Adams (R)
- 25th District - David Rivera (R)
- State Capital - Tallahassee
- Largest city - Jacksonville (though the Miami metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan area in the southeastern US)
- Date of Admission - March 3, 1845
- Area - 65,755 sq mi (22nd)
- Population (2011 est.) - 19,057,542 (6th)
- State Motto - "In God We Trust"
- State Nickname - The Sunshine State
- State song - Swanee River (Old Folks at Home), Stephen C. Foster
- State bird - mockingbird
- State flower - orange blossom
- State tree - cabbage palmetto
- State University - The University of Florida
- State Archives - State Archives of Florida
- The State Historical Society of Florida (incorporated 1856)
- The Florida Memory Project
- MyFlorida.com - the official portal to the State of Florida
- The Florida Tourism site - Visit Florida
- Wikipedia
- 50states.com entry for Florida
- InfoPlease entry for Florida
- Florida Fact Sheet from the USDA
- Florida State Guide from the Library of Congress
- National Park Service site for Florida
- Florida Timeline
- Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, jazz saxophonist
- "Mr. Clean," Pat Boone (I really thought he was dead)
- Fernando Bujones, ballet dancer
- Baseball pitcher, Steve Carlton
- Faye Dunaway
- Stepin Fetchit (Lincoln Theodore Perry)
- The reason Florida produces oranges, Horticulturist Lue Gim Gong
- Dwight Gooden
- Zora Neale Hurston
- Air Force General Daniel James
- James Weldon Johnson, author and educator
- Singer, actress, USO (with Bob Hope) staple, Frances Langford
- Butterfly "I don't know nothing 'bout birthing no babies" McQueen
- Jim Morrison
- Osceola, Seminole Indian leader
- Tom Petty
- Sidney Poitier
- A. Philip Randolph
- Author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
- Former Attorney General Janet Reno
- Burt Reynolds
- The Ringling Brothers, Charles and John
- Basketball star David Robinson
- Baseball star Don Sutton
- Norman E. Thargard, astronaut
- Supreme Court Justice (and mute) Clarence Thomas
- Ben Vereen
2 comments:
What a short list of people.
Well it is the state that everybody goes to die, isn't it? There can't be that many people who are actually from the state, right?
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