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Florida State Flag

Florida State Seal

Florida, the Sunshine State, is located in the southeastern part of the United States. The state borders Georgia and Alabama. Most of Florida is a peninsula with the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Gulf of Mexico on the west. Key West, part of the Florida Keys, is the most southern part of the continental United States and is only 94 miles north of Cuba.

Population

Florida is the forth largest populated state with 18,251,243 (as of 2007) and is the third fastest growing state in the United States. The Miami/Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area contains the largest population in Florida as well as that of the southeastern United States.

Brief History

The Spanish conquistador, Juan Ponce de León, named Florida during Pascua Florida which is the Spanish term for the Easter season. Over the following century, Florida was settled by the Spanish, the French, and the British. Spain gave Florida to the United States in 1819 for Texas and $5 million. Florida became the 27th state on March 3, 1845. Before the declaration of the American Civil War, on January 18, 1861, Florida left the United States to become one of the founding members of the Confederate States of America. After the Civil War, on June 25, 1868, Florida regained statehood. Today, Florida is the fourth largest state in the United States and the second largest in the South next to Texas. The United States Census Bureau estimates that Florida will become the third most populous state by 2011.

State Flag and State Seal

The Florida state flag (shown at the right) displays the state seal on a white field centered on a St. Andrew’s Cross. The state seal (shown at the right) depicts a scene of the sun’s rays, a palm tree, a steamboat, and a Florida Seminole Indian female scattering flowers in the foreground. Around the outside edge are the words, “Great Seal of the State of Florida: In God We Trust.”