Florida

Florida was the twenty-seventh state admitted to the Union (March 3, 1845). The Sunshine State is the second-largest state east of the Mississippi River and ranks twenty-second in size among all fifty states. It is located in the extreme southeastern region of the United States and is bordered on the north by Alabama and Georgia .

Native Americans in 2000 bce enjoyed an agricultural and hunting economy in what is now north Florida. Those in the south did not practice agriculture until around 450 bce. When Europeans arrived in the early sixteenth century, nearly one hundred thousand Native Americans populated the region. The Spanish attempted to convert these tribes to Christianity. The results were disastrous: most of the Native Americans there died of European-induced disease or were killed in conflict. (See Epidemics in the New World .) Only three hundred tribal members remained in 1763, and they left when the Spaniards departed for home.

The most violent and longest of the Plains Indian Wars (1866–90) was fought in Florida. The Seminole War lasted from 1836 until 1842, when all but about three hundred Seminole Indians were forced to leave Florida and relocate to Oklahoma .

In 2006, Florida was home to over eighteen million people. Although many think of Florida as a place people retire to, just 17 percent of the population was age sixty-five and older. Twenty-six percent were between the ages of twenty-five and forty-four, and another 25 percent were between forty-five and sixty-four. The state's capital, Tallahassee, is the third-smallest major city, Jacksonville the largest. The state has a large and growing Hispanic population, a significant proportion of which is first- and second-generation Cuban Americans.

Florida is a favorite location for immigrants who enter the United States in hopes of taking advantage of the state's diversified economy. Its leading industries include food processing, electric and electronic equipment, transportation equipment, and chemicals. It ranks high in the manufacturing of guided missiles and space vehicles. Florida also depends on agriculture for a sound economy; its most important products are citrus fruits. The famous Florida orange was actually not native to the region but introduced by Spanish settlers around 1570.

Because the state has the fourth-highest population in the country and has twenty-seven votes in the electoral college , it plays a key role in presidential elections. Traditionally a state that votes Democratic, Florida has seen an increase in Republican voting since the late twentieth century. This lack of a clear-cut political preference, along with the large number of electoral college votes, makes it a swing state, in which the candidate of either party has a reasonable chance of winning.

Never was the outcome of the presidential vote in Florida so crucial to American politics as in the controversial 2000 election. The candidates were Democrat Al Gore (1948–) and Republican George W. Bush (1946–; served 2001–). The outcome of their race hung on a margin of approximately five hundred Florida votes. After several recounts and legal battles, it was determined that Bush won the presidency. However, some remained unconvinced that his victory was legitimate.