Universities I Colleges I Schools I Private Training I English Schools

Florida has an extensive system of public schools and a broad range of cultural activities, many of them connected with tourism and others catering to the demands of an increasing number of retired residents.

Education
The first schools in Florida were operated by the Spanish in the 17th century. After short-lived attempts to establish a public school system in the 1830s and 1840s, a statewide system of public education was developed under provisions of the 1868 constitution. The University of Florida, in Gainesville, dates from 1853, and several other institutions of higher learning were founded before the end of the 19th century.
In the late 1980s, Florida had 2505 public elementary and secondary schools. The annual enrollment in public elementary schools was 1,303,400 pupils and in secondary schools, 468,900 students. The school system also included Florida State School for the Deaf and Blind at Saint Augustine, and more than 30 vocational-technical centers. Some 193,200 students attended private elementary and secondary schools.
 

In the late 1980s, Florida had 95 colleges and universities. The combined annual enrollment in all public institutions of higher education was about 480,900 students and in private institutions about 92,800 students. Besides the University of Florida, the state's colleges and universities include Bethune-Cookman College (1904) in Daytona Beach; Florida Atlantic University (1961) in Boca Raton; Florida Institute of Technology (1958) in Melbourne; Jacksonville University (1934) in Jacksonville; Rollins College (1885) in Winter Park; Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (1887) and Florida State University (1851), both in Tallahassee; Stetson University (1883) in De Land; and the University of Miami (1925) in Coral Gables.


Florida, one of the South Atlantic states of the United States and the southernmost mainland state. It is bounded on the north by Alabama and Georgia, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Straits of Florida (separating it from Cuba), and on the west by the Gulf of Mexico and Alabama. Tallahassee is Florida's capital. Jacksonvile is the largest city.
Florida entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state. It was a member of the Confederacy during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Florida's main economic growth began in the early 20th century, and by the 1990s it had a diversified economy, noted especially for the production of citrus fruit, vegetables, and electronic equipment. Millions of tourists visit the state each year, lured by the warm, sunny climate and attractions such as Walt Disney World near Orlando and the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral. Florida's population nearly tripled between 1960 and 1990, many of the new inhabitants being retired people from other parts of the United States and immigrants from Caribbean countries. In 1513 the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León named the region Florida (Spanish, “flowery”), either because the vegetation included many flowers or because the time of his visit was Easter week (Spanish, “Pascua florida”). Florida is known as the Sunshine State.

Land and Resources
Florida is mainly a large peninsula that extends about 645 km (about 400 mi) between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Much of the rest of the state forms the narrow Panhandle between Georgia and Alabama on the north and the Gulf of Mexico on the south. Florida is the 22nd largest state, with an area of 170,313 sq km (65,758 sq mi). The lowest point is sea level, and the highest point, an unnamed spot in Walton County, in the Panhandle, is only 105 m (345 ft) above sea level. The average elevation of the state is just 30 m (100 ft). The dimensions of Florida, which has a coastline of 2173 km (1350 mi), are about 725 km (about 450 mi) from north to south and about 580 km (about 360 mi) from east to west. The federal government owns 9.4 percent of Florida's land area.

Physical Geography
All of Florida except the Panhandle is part of the large Atlantic Coastal Plain, which forms most of the eastern coast of the United States. Whereas most of the coastal plain north of Florida is underlain by unconsolidated layers of sand, clay, and other materials, much of Florida is underlain by thick beds of limestone and similar rock. In the northwestern part of the peninsula the limestone is exposed at the surface, but elsewhere it is usually buried beneath layers of sand and sometimes beneath beds of clay as well. Rainwater trickling downward has dissolved some of the limestone, creating cavities in the rock. Beds of rock, clay, or sand above often collapse into them, creating thousands of circular or irregular holes at the surface. Many of these holes are now filled with water, forming the sinkholes and lakes that are such an important part of the Florida landscape.
A central belt of hills extends south on the peninsula almost as far as Lake Okeechobee, but otherwise the peninsula is flat, particularly south of the lake. Marshes and swamps are common in the flat areas; Big Cypress Swamp and the Everglades cover much of the southern part of the state. Islands, coral reefs, and sandbars extend along almost the entire Atlantic coast and are separated from the mainland by narrow lagoons, which are known as lakes or rivers in some places. Three groups of small islands, the Florida Keys (including Key Largo and Key West), the Marquesas Keys, and the Dry Tortugas, make up the southernmost portion of the state.
The Panhandle region is a small section of the East Gulf Coastal Plain, which extends into Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and other states. The land is low and swampy along the coast, but rises inland, forming a belt of red clay hills in the east and some sandy hills in the extreme west.

Rivers and Lakes
Florida has only four major rivers, all in the northern part of the state. The largest in flow is the Apalachicola, which carries the waters of the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers of Georgia across the Florida Panhandle to the Gulf of Mexico. The river with the second greatest flow, the Suwannee, is also fed in part by outflow from Georgia. Two other large rivers are the Saint Johns in the northeast, and the Escambia in the far northwest. The St. Johns is the longest (460 km/250 mi) river in the state. The Indian River, which stretches for some 210 km (about 130 mi) along the eastern coast of Florida, is not a true river, but a long lagoon of brackish water behind a line of offshore islands.
In addition to several hundred sizable lakes located mainly in central and northern Florida, Lake Okeechobee in the southern part of the peninsula is the third largest freshwater lake entirely within the United States. Its waters are very shallow.

Climate
Almost all of Florida has a humid subtropical climate. However, the southern end of the state and particularly the small islands south of the peninsula have a tropical wet and dry climate similar to that of Central America. In general, the area with a humid subtropical climate has long, hot, rainy summers, short and usually mild winters, and a high number of sunny days. Winters are rainy in northwestern Florida but become increasingly dry toward the south. The average annual temperature at Tallahassee, in the northwest, is 20° C (68° F), and at Fort Lauderdale, in the southeast, 25° C (77° F). Recorded temperatures in Florida have ranged from -18.9° C (-2° F), at Tallahassee in 1899, to 42.8° C (109° F), at Monticello in 1931. The state receives a yearly average of 1346 mm (53 in) of precipitation, almost entirely in the form of rain. Parts of Florida, especially in the south, are sometimes endangered in the summer and fall by hurricanes traveling across the Atlantic Ocean.

Plants and Animals
The types of plants that grow in Florida often vary greatly over short distances. The variety of plants that will grow in a particular place is determined in large measure by how wet or dry the climate is and by the temperatures on the coldest winter nights. About 35 percent of the state's land area is covered with forest, mostly composed of longleaf, slash, or pond pine intermixed with small hardwood trees and saw palmetto. Many other types of vegetation cover also exist, including hardwood forest, prairie, cypress swamp, and tropical mangrove swamp. A great variety of flowering plants grow in Florida. Common among them are blue lupines, mimosa, lantana, white calla, blue iris, clematis, sunflowers, orchids, yellow jasmine, and roses. One of the most beautiful flowering trees in Florida is the royal poinciana. Palms grow in the southern part of the state, and orange trees, mostly cultivated on a commercial basis, are concentrated in the central section.
Many of the native mammals of Florida are declining in number as the human population increases. Such animals are the black bear, white-tailed and Key deer, wildcat, gray fox, and Florida panther. Small animals such as rabbit, opossum, squirrel, and raccoon are numerous. Because of protective legislation, the alligator is fairly common, as are snakes, turtles, frogs, lizards, spiders, and scorpions. Birds include egrets, flamingos, herons, and pelicans.
Florida has some 700 species of fish in its rivers, lakes, and coastal marine waters. Very common are mullet, trout, bass, red snapper, pompano, and catfish. Sport fish include sailfish and tarpon. Shrimp, lobsters, oysters, crabs, clams, and conchs are numerous. Manatees are found in the state's rivers and coastal waters.

Mineral Resources
Florida's principal minerals are limestone, found in much of the peninsula; phosphate rock, located especially east of Tampa Bay; petroleum, situated chiefly in Santa Rosa County in the northwest, and near Fort Myers in the southwest; and fuller's earth (a type of clay), found mainly in the Panhandle. Other minerals include natural gas, sand and gravel, sulfur, peat, kaolin (a kind of clay), ilmenite (a combination of iron, titanium, and oxygen), and rutile (titanium dioxide).

Population
According to the 1990 census, Florida had 12,937,926 inhabitants, an increase of 32.7 percent over 1980. During this period Florida was one of the country's fastest-growing states. The average population density in 1990 was 76 persons per sq km (197 per sq mi). Whites made up 83.1 percent of the population and blacks 13.6 percent. Additional population groups included 35,461 Native Americans, 31,457 Asian Indians, 31,945 people of Filipino ancestry, 30,737 people of Chinese origin, 16,346 people of Vietnamese background, 12,404 people of Korean origin, and 8505 people of Japanese descent. About 1,574,000 Floridians, or 12.2 percent of the population, were of Hispanic origin. Important ethnic groups included the Seminole, many of whom live on five reservations in the state, and Cubans, who were concentrated in metropolitan areas such as Miami and Tampa. Tarpon Springs was notable as a center for descendants of Greek immigrants. Florida had a greater portion of its population over the age of 60 (18 percent) than any other state in the United States. This figure reflected the large number of people who moved here after retirement. Roman Catholics made up the state's largest single religious group (23.2 percent); Baptists (22.2 percent) and Methodists (8.2 percent) were the leading Protestant groups, and Jews formed a significant minority (3.6 percent). In 1990 about 85 percent of all Floridians lived in areas defined as urban, and the rest lived in rural areas.
Jacksonville is Florida's largest city. Other large cities in the state are Miami, Tampa, Saint Petersburg, and Hialeah.

Cultural Institutions
Cultural life in Florida is concentrated in several cities, notably Miami, Tampa and St. Petersburg, Orlando, Sarasota, and Jacksonville. A major museum is the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, with historical, archaeological, and biological exhibits. An important collection of European and American painting is housed in Sarasota's John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. Sarasota also has a Circus Museum. Other museums in Florida include the Lowe Art Museum in Coral Gables; Pioneer Florida Museum in Dade City; the Morikami Museum of Japanese Culture in Delray Beach; the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale; the Cummer Gallery of Art in Jacksonville; the Museum of Science in Miami; the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola; the Museum of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg; and the Norton Gallery in West Palm Beach.
The state's largest library, the University of Florida Library, contains an excellent collection of works on the Caribbean. Nearly 500 library service outlets, including more than 30 bookmobiles, are scattered throughout Florida. About ten cities support symphony orchestras, and five have opera companies. The state also has more than 100 dance companies. Theater has been traditionally very popular in Florida, and more than 100 theater groups, professional as well as amateur, are active.

Historical Sites
Numerous historical sites recall Florida's Spanish period. The oldest masonry fortress of the continental United States, dating from the 1670s, is part of Castillo de San Marcos National Monument at St. Augustine. Fort Matanzas National Monument near St. Augustine; the historic district at Pensacola; and the De Soto National Memorial near Bradenton contain other Spanish landmarks. Fort Caroline National Memorial at Jacksonville overlooks the site where Huguenots (French Protestants) founded a colony in 1564. A large masonry fortification (1856) is part of Dry Tortugas National Park, near Key West.

Sports and Recreation
Florida's climate attracts millions of tourists each year. With its numerous lakes and long coastline, the state is known for its freshwater and deep-sea fishing. In addition, boating, swimming, waterskiing, skin diving, and hunting are popular. Florida also has many commercial attractions, notably Walt Disney World, a vast theme park and recreation center near Orlando. Large stadiums in Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa, and other cities host collegiate and professional sporting events. The Orange Bowl, in Miami, is noted as the site of a major postseason college football game. Florida's professional sports teams include the Miami Dolphins and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football teams, the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic basketball teams, and the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team. Miami was granted a National League baseball franchise in 1991. Miami's team, the Florida Marlins, played its first season in 1993. The Daytona 500 stock car race is held every February in Daytona Beach.

Communications
In the early 1990s, Florida had 220 AM and 229 FM radio stations and 91 television stations. The state's first radio station, WQAM in Miami, began operations in 1921. There are 43 daily newspapers with a total daily circulation of more than 3.1 million copies. Florida's first newspaper, the East Florida Gazette, appeared in St. Augustine in 1783, and the oldest newspaper still published here is the Florida Times-Union, founded in Jacksonville in 1864. The Miami Herald, a nationally prominent newspaper, is known for its extensive coverage of the Caribbean. Other major newspapers include the Sun Sentinel, published in Fort Lauderdale; the Orlando Sentinel; the Saint Petersburg Times; the Tampa Tribune; and the Spanish-language Diario Las Américas, published in Miami.

Government and Politics
The present state constitution of Florida became effective in January 1969. Previous constitutions had been adopted in 1839, 1861, 1865, 1868, and 1886. Constitutional amendments can be proposed by a three-fifths majority vote of the legislature, by a specified number of voters, or by a constitutional convention. To become effective, an amendment must be approved by a majority of people voting on the issue in an election.

Executive
The chief executive of Florida is a governor, who is popularly elected for four years and may serve up to two consecutive terms. In case of the governor's resignation, death, or removal from office, he or she is replaced by the lieutenant governor, who also is elected to a four-year term. The Florida cabinet has six members—the secretary of state, attorney general, comptroller, treasurer and commissioner of insurance, commissioner of agriculture, and commissioner of education—all of whom are popularly elected to four-year terms.

Legislature
The legislature of Florida consists of a senate and a house of representatives. The senate has 40 members, elected to four-year terms, and the house has 120 members, elected to two-year terms. The president of the senate is elected by all senators, and the speaker of the house by all representatives. A special session of the legislature can be convened by the governor.

Judiciary
Florida's highest court, the supreme court, has seven members. The chief justice is elected by the court for a two-year term. Second highest are five district courts of appeal, with a total of 57 judges. Supreme court and district court judges are appointed by the governor to initial six-year terms, which can be extended by voters in general elections every six years. The system of trial courts includes 20 circuit courts, whose 421 judges are elected to six-year terms on a nonpartisan basis; county and juvenile courts; and courts of justices of the peace.

Local Government
The basic unit of local government in Florida is the county. Most of the state's 67 counties are administered by five-member elected boards of commissioners. Other elected county officials are the sheriff, tax collector, tax assessor, supervisor of elections, clerk of the circuit court, auditor, recorder, and custodian of county funds. Smaller units are municipalities and special districts.

National Representation
Florida elects two senators and 23 representatives to the U.S. Congress. The state has 25 electoral votes in presidential elections.

Politics
Since 1877 almost all of Florida's governors have belonged to the Democratic party. From 1880 to 1948 the state's voters favored the Democratic presidential nominee in all elections except that of 1928. A Republican trend has been evident since the early 1950s.

Economy
The economy of Florida has greatly expanded and diversified since the early 20th century, when it was dominated by farming. Agriculture remained important in the early 1990s, but tourism was the leading economic sector, and manufacturing also contributed heavily to the economy. Many jobs were associated with U.S. government facilities, such as the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral, and Eglin Air Force Base, near Pensacola. Miami was a growing international financial center for the Caribbean region. Florida's economy benefited from the many older people who spent their retirement income in the state.

Agriculture
Florida is a major agricultural producer, ranking ninth among the U.S. states in terms of annual farm income. It contains some 40,000 farms, which have an average size of 106 hectares (263 acres). More than 75 percent of Florida's yearly agricultural income derives from the sale of crops, and the rest is generated by sales of livestock and livestock products. The principal farm product is citrus fruit, particularly oranges, which are grown mainly in the central part of the state. Florida leads the nation in the production of oranges, grapefruit, and tangerines. The second leading group of farm commodities is made up of dairy products and beef cattle, produced chiefly in central and southeastern Florida.
Florida is second only to California in the production of vegetables and melons, including beans, green peppers, cucumbers, celery, potatoes, cantaloupes, and watermelons. Along with Hawaii, it is a leading state in growing sugarcane, produced principally in the Everglades region. Tomatoes and soybeans are other valuable Florida field crops, as are corn and tobacco. Large numbers of broiler chickens are raised, and Florida is among the leading states in producing greenhouse and nursery plants and field-grown flowers. Substantial quantities of peanuts and pecans are also produced.

Forestry
Florida contains 6.1 million hectares (about 15 million acres) of commercial timberland, which supports a substantial forest-products industry. The annual timber harvest provides not only lumber but also pulpwood for use in paper mills. About two-thirds of the harvest consists of softwoods, mainly slash pine. Oak and hickory are among the leading hardwoods cut. The forestry industry is concentrated in northern Florida.

Fishing
Florida ranks among the top states in the value of its annual fish catch. Both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico are important sources of fish, with the Gulf catch being more than twice as valuable. The principal marine species landed are shrimp, lobsters, crabs, clams, oysters, swordfish, mackerel, mullet, and red snapper. Major sponge fisheries operate off southern Florida. Freshwater fish formerly were an important commercial commodity, but now they are caught almost exclusively by sport fishers.

Mining
Florida has an important mining industry. It is the leading U.S. producer of phosphate rock, a large portion of which is used to manufacture fertilizer. Phosphate rock production, which accounts for more than half the value of all minerals produced in Florida, is centered in Polk County. Florida ranks among the top states in the yearly production of magnesium compounds, peat, zircon, titanium concentrate, crushed stone, and masonry cement. Other important minerals recovered include petroleum, sand and gravel, natural gas, fuller's earth, and kaolin.

Manufacturing
Florida has more than 15,000 manufacturing establishments, which together are responsible for the employment of more than 540,000 workers. Manufactures account for about 10 percent of the annual gross state product. The leading types of products, based on annual payroll, are electronic equipment, transportation equipment, precision instruments, printed materials, and processed foods. Leading food products include concentrated orange juice and other citrus items, canned and frozen vegetables, and prepared seafood. Among the state's other important products are fertilizer, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. Electronic equipment is manufactured partly in association with the U.S. space program and national defense efforts. Transportation equipment includes vehicles built for the space program and missiles constructed for the armed forces. Among the state's other manufactures are tobacco products (notably cigars made in Tampa), clothing, industrial machinery, fabricated metal, and paper products. The Miami and Tampa-St. Petersburg metropolitan areas are the main manufacturing centers.

Tourism
Florida's leading economic sector is tourism; more than 650,000 Floridians work in tourism-related enterprises, such as hotels, restaurants, and recreational services. More than 39 million people vacation in Florida each year, yielding more than $28 billion in revenue. Tourists are attracted by Florida's warm climate, especially in winter, and by its many cultural and recreational offerings. Among the most popular beach resorts are Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami Beach, on the Atlantic coast, and Clearwater and Panama City, on the Gulf coast. Also popular are Canaveral National Seashore, on the Atlantic near the Kennedy Space Center, and Gulf Islands National Seashore, near Pensacola.
Several major tourist attractions have been developed away from the coastal areas. The largest of these is the Walt Disney World theme park and recreation center, near Orlando, which attracts an estimated 28.5 million visitors each year. Disney World includes the Magic Kingdom amusement park, Disney-MGM Studio Theme Park, and Epcot Center. Many exhibits at Epcot Center explore the possibilities of future technologies. Other exhibits re-create the culture and historical events of various countries around the world. Other popular inland attractions include Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, and Sea World and the Universal Studios theme park near Orlando. Many people visit Everglades National Park, which encompasses a huge subtropical wilderness, and the adjacent Big Cypress National Preserve, which contains a great variety of plant and animal life. Biscayne National Park is also in the area. The state maintains some 115 parks and recreation areas.

Transportation
Florida is served by a dense network of transportation facilities. The state has about 173,946 km (about 108,085 mi) of roads, including 2343 km (1456 mi) of interstate highways. Florida has about 5149 km (about 3200 mi) of railroad track. Jacksonville is a major rail hub. The state contains 431 airports, 203 heliports, and 22 seaplane bases. The busiest airfield is Miami International Airport, with many connections to Caribbean islands and Central and South America. Other major airports serve Tampa-St. Petersburg, Jacksonville, and Orlando.
Florida has several major seaports, some serving vessels using the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Leading ports on the Atlantic coast are Jacksonville, Port Everglades (near Fort Lauderdale), and Miami, and major ports on the Gulf coast are Tampa, Panama City, and Pensacola.

Energy
Florida's electric power plants have a generating capacity of about 32.9 million kilowatts and produce some 123.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year. About 81 percent of the electricity is generated by conventional steam installations using fossil fuels, about 18 percent by nuclear power plants, and the rest at hydroelectric and internal-combustion facilities. Nuclear power units are situated near Miami, near Fort Pierce, and at Crystal River.

History
The original peoples of Florida included the Timucua, Apalachee, and Calusa. They were absorbed by the Seminole, who migrated from Georgia to Florida and became dominant there in the early 18th century.
The Spaniards were the first Europeans to discover Florida. Juan Ponce de León, under authority of a grant from the Spanish crown, explored the Florida coast in 1513 in search of the mythical fountain of youth. Later explorations by Panfilo de Narvaez in 1528 and Hernando de Soto in 1539-1540 revealed that Florida was a peninsula and not a “vast island” as Ponce de León had assumed.
In 1562 Jean Ribaut led a band of Huguenots to Florida, claimed the new territory for France, and then moved to South Carolina. Ribaut returned to Florida in 1565 and, along with another group of Huguenots, was captured and executed at Fort Caroline by Spanish forces under Pedro Menendez de Aviles. Later the same year, Menéndez founded St. Augustine, the oldest permanent European settlement in the United States.
The Spanish experienced many difficulties in Florida. The Seminole resisted domination, and conflicts with the English persisted. The English attacked St. Augustine on several occasions, beginning in 1586, and sometimes with considerable damage to the town. The Spanish, in turn, launched raids against the Georgia and Carolina coasts. In 1698 the Spanish founded Pensacola, which was occupied from 1719 to 1722 by the French.
In 1763, at the end of the Seven Years' War, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain. The British divided the territory into the provinces of East and West Florida. British domination continued during the American Revolution (1776-1783), although Spanish forces invaded West Florida in 1779 and captured Pensacola in 1781. Spain regained Florida by the Treaty of Paris in 1783. In 1810 the United States claimed that West Florida was part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and thus under American jurisdiction. The Spanish, however, resisted such claims, as well as U.S. incursions into Florida during the War of 1812. Pensacola was temporarily occupied by the British and then the Americans in 1814.

U.S. Acquisition
After the war, U.S. troops invaded Florida in an effort to capture escaped slaves from Georgia, and the Seminole retaliated. General Andrew Jackson led an expedition across the border in 1818, took Pensacola, defeated the Seminole, and created an international incident by executing two British subjects who had aided the Seminole. Spain surrendered Florida to the United States in the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819. The Seminole, who had been left largely to themselves by the Spanish, were in 1832 forced into a treaty, by which they agreed to give up their Florida lands for new territory in the West. The majority of them, however, resisted removal and, led by Chief Osceola, fought U.S. forces in the Second Seminole War (1835-1842). Most of the Seminole were either removed to Oklahoma or killed in the struggle. See SEMINOLE WARS.
Florida was admitted to the Union as the 27th state in 1845. On January 10, 1861, it seceded and joined the Confederacy. During the Civil War (1861-1865), Union forces captured most of the important coastal towns and appointed a provisional governor in 1865, although the only large-scale battle, at Oulstee in 1864, resulted in a Confederate victory. Under the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, Florida came under federal military control. A new state constitution was adopted in 1868, affirming both the abolition of slavery and black voting rights, and Florida was again admitted to the Union.

The Development of Florida
In the late 19th century the future development of Florida was a matter of considerable interest to many northern investors and entrepreneurs. Among them was the railroad magnate Henry M. Flagler, who built the Florida East Coast Line to Miami and Key West. The population of the state doubled between 1870 and 1890, and tourism, which first became noticeable in the 1880s, increased consistently thereafter.
New railroads and highways brought rising numbers of people to Florida, some of whom settled permanently. Thousands of people purchased land at soaring prices. Florida land assessments nearly doubled between 1920 and 1925, and orange groves were cleared for new subdivisions. The land boom, however, collapsed so totally that it might have helped trigger the stock-market crash of 1929 that ushered in the Great Depression.
Economic development resumed dramatically after World War II ended in 1945, as former military personnel returned to the state where they had been stationed, and retirees on Social Security and government pensions sought a place in the sun. With only 528,000 inhabitants in 1900, Florida counted almost 5 million people in 1960 and more than 12.9 million in 1990, making it the 4th most populous state in the nation. Miami, which had fewer than 5500 people in 1910, was the state's largest metropolitan area in 1990 with 1.9 million inhabitants. The Miami metropolitan area, which has the same boundaries as Dade County, includes a significant proportion of Hispanics, blacks, and Jews. About 85 percent of Florida's population lived in urban areas in 1990, and the state contained some of the fastest-growing cities and counties in the United States.
Florida's economy has also undergone rapid changes. Although agriculture is still expanding—accounting for most of the citrus production in the United States, as well as a large volume of vegetables—tourism, services, and new industries have become increasingly important and have given the state a diversified economic base. Military and other government installations—such as the space-rocket center at Cape Canaveral—have also come to contribute significantly to the state's economy.
The rapid growth in population and the pressures of new development on the state's environment and resources during the 1970s and 1980s have led to state government efforts to control growth by restrictions on land use and by environmental regulations, which are among the strictest in the nation. Although these efforts have not been entirely successful, they have helped to protect the state's coastal regions and other natural preserves. A new challenge to the state came in August 1992, when Hurricane Andrew devastated parts of southern Florida, leaving 41 people dead and 160,000 people homeless, and causing about $20 billion in property damage.