Florida

Florida's Early Inhabitants

Archeological sites in the peninsula that later became the state of Florida indicate that humans lived in the region as long ago as 10,000 B.C. Recorded history of the area begins with Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon, who explored the region in search of the legendary Fountain of Youth and gave the peninsula its name. Ponce de Leon found two American Indian tribes living on the peninsula: the Tequesta in the east, and the Calusa in the west.

In 1565, St. Augustine, the first permanent European settlement in the present-day continental U.S., was established along the region's northeast coast by Spanish mariner Pedro Menendez de Aviles (1519-74). The Spanish later established missions in the northern part of the peninsula. Starting in 1763, the area came under British control for two decades. Following the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), Spain regained control of the region from Britain. 

The Seminole Wars: 1817-1858

During the first part of the 19th century, Native American groups in Florida frequently clashed with U.S. authorities, resulting in what became known as the three Seminole Wars. The first war occurred in 1817 when General Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) led U.S. troops and Creek Indians into Spanish Florida to destroy the strength of several groups of Native Americans known collectively as the Seminoles. The battle stemmed from the fact that the Seminoles had sided with the British during the American Revolution, attacked American settlers in Florida and harbored runaway black slaves. After a year of fighting, U.S. troops defeated the Seminoles.

In 1819, Spain ceded Florida to America through the Adams-Onis Treaty, which was ratified in 1821. The U.S. government soon tried to convince the Seminoles to relocate to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. In 1832, some members of the tribe signed a treaty and agreed to move west; however, other Seminoles refused to give up their Florida land.

The second Seminole War began in 1835 when U.S. troops tried to enforce the treaty and get the Seminoles to leave Florida. The bloody conflict continued for seven years and cost the U.S. a reported $40 million.  Much of the Seminoles' success was due to the unifying leadership of Osceola (c. 1800-38), who inspired the various tribes to act together. The Seminoles took control of north Florida, but after Osceola's capture and death in 1838, they lost their collective effectiveness. After the fighting ended in 1842, some 3,000 Seminole were forced to relocate to Oklahoma, and the U.S. government pushed into the region, building roads and surveying in Seminole areas. Between the second and third Seminole Wars, Florida entered the Union as the 27th state on March 3, 1845. Within five years, the state's population grew to more than 87,000 people, including some 39,000 black slaves.

The Seminoles in Florida rose up again in 1855, but the third Seminole War ended in their defeat in 1858. Following the fighting, several hundred Seminoles remained in the state, in the Everglades region, and called themselves an "unconquered people." Today, the Seminole tribe has six reservations throughout Florida.

The Civil War

The new settlers in Florida established lucrative cotton and tobacco crops using slave labor. As divisions between North and South grew during the mid-19th century over slavery and other issues, Florida was firmly proslavery. It was the third Southern state to secede from the Union at the onset of the Civil War (1861-65). Florida was readmitted to the Union in 1868.

Following the war, white landowner Josiah C. Eaton sold enough land to African Americans to make a tract that could be incorporated as an all-black town. In 1887, Eatonville became the first incorporated all-black community in the U.S. The town, located near Orlando, was later home to esteemed African-American writer Zora Neale Hurston (c. 1891-1960), best known for her 1937 novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God," which is set in Florida.

Tourism and Key Industries

As early as the 1870s, Americans living in Northern parts of the nation started visiting or moving to Florida in order to escape cold weather and enjoy the state's warm climate, numerous sandy beaches and natural beauty. The invention of the automobile in the early part of the 20th century helped bring more people to Florida, and following World War II (1939-45), tourism became the state's top industry. Among the Sunshine State's most popular attractions are Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, Kennedy Space Center, Busch Gardens and Everglades National Park. In 2008, some 84 million visitors flocked to Florida.

Agriculture is another leading industry in the Sunshine State. Citrus, including oranges, grapefruit and some specialty fruits, have been grown commercially in Florida since the mid-19th century. After Brazil, Florida is the world's biggest orange producer, and more grapefruit are grown in the state than anywhere else on the planet.  

Other key industries in Florida, America's fourth most-populated state, include construction, financial and high-tech services and health technology.