Overall
Florida, the Sunshine State, is located on the same latitude as Egypt. It is an approximately 850 km long peninsula and in the north virtually no wider than 250 km. The area is over 150,000 km2 (approximately four times The Netherlands, or five times Belgium).

 

 

It is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean (the warm Gulf Stream) in the east and the Gulf of Mexico in the west.
In the north adjacent to Florida State and Georgia and Alabama in the extreme south, in the town of Key West, the flow of Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico collapsed. Florida is lowland and crossed by rivers: the highest point - in Lakewood near Alabama - is barely 110 meters high. There are two climate zones: a tropical, from under Bradenton to Vero Beach (South Florida), and a subtropical above this line (North Florida).

 

The average temperature in spring, summer, autumn and winter is 25 degrees C, 29 º C, 25 º C and 20 º C. In North Florida these values are 2 to 3 degrees lower. (Because we are talking about averages, it is not excluded that your Christmas or New Year's Eve will be at a temperature of around 25 degrees Celsius in Miami Beach or the Florida Keys on the beach.) In the biggest part of Florida the sun nearly always shines.

 

St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Mexico is saying, not without pride, that they have an average of 361 days of sunshine a year. From June to September it can be, especially against the evening, raining. The state of Florida has from June 1 until October 31 the hurricane season. In the winter there can be some snow in the subtropical area. In the tropical zone this is a very large rarity (in Key West, for example, it never freezes).

 

Florida has 165 rivers and more than 30,000 large and small lakes.

 

The largest is Okeechobee covering an area of 2000 km2, 50 km west of West Palm Beach in central Florida. The state has 13 million inhabitants and more than 44 million visitors who annually come and enjoy the sun, the beaches, scenic beauty and countless other attractions. Let this number not discourage you: Tourist accommodation is everywhere so great that you will not notice these stream of visitors.

 

Florida has 325000 hotel and motel rooms. There are more than 500 camps with about 165,000 camping sites. Florida is especially popular during the winter months (december until april), which is the most expensive season in terms of hotel accommodation. In the summer prices are significantly lower. Despite the thousands of hotels and motels that the state counts, it is, especially in the winter, timely advisable to book in advance. Florida, with California and Texas, one of the fastest growing States of America, where each year more than 150,000 people permanently settle. Among them are many over-65, they want to enjoy the beautiful environment. The capital of Florida is Tallahassee. Other large cities are Miami, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, St. Petersburg and Orlando.

 

A brief history
Florida is discovered in 1513 by the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. This nobleman was with a group of adventurous companions in search of the legendary source of eternal youth, which he obviously never found. However, he discovered an untouched, only by a number of Indians populated peninsula, which Ponce de Leon immediately in the name of the Spanish king demanded.

 

 

 

The Spaniards in the wake of Leon to the New World, founded in 1565 the town of San Augustine, the current St. Augustine.
It is the oldest city in the United States, which still has many historical relics.
In 1821 Spain was more or less forced to give Florida to the young United States and it then became the 27th state of America.
From 1835 to 1842 Florida did have the war between the whites and the Seminole Indians, whose ancestors had thousand of years earlier established on the peninsula, but lost more and more territory to the whites.
Bloody disputes were no longer avoided. Ultimately, the Indians were deported to oklahoma in 1835 by order of the government. There were more indians from other states deported to this state.

 

This deportation did trigger a seven year war, where the Seminole Indians finally lost the war. There are now about two thousand descendants in a few small reserves, which are accessible to the public and where they are make money for their living by selling clothes and braids
In the twenties Florida was the victory operation area of thousands of land speculators and property developers. Partly due to the enormous popularity of the car and the road network growing tourism took a big flight, but unexpectedly was inhibited by the long depression of the thirties.
The crisis had the additional advantage that in the context of the employment is a large number of expansions and improvements in the existing infrastructure were conducted. In the Second World War Florida held an important position because of its strategic proximity to the Panama Canal, the Achilles tendon of America, and the state had many army and air bases.
Immediately after the Second World War the development of Florida rapidly regained momentum. Tourism is now one of the main sources of income.

 

Access
Miami International Airport is the largest airport in Florida. Other airports are located in Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Orlando, Tampa, St. Perersburg, Daytona Beach, Gainesville and Key West. Major U.S. airlines like American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Trans World Airlines (TWA), United Airlines and USAir maintained regular flights from all major U.S. cities to the large airports in Florida. KLM from Schiphol maintains a scheduled flight to Orlando, while Martinair flies from Schiphol Airport to Miami.

 

Key West
Navigating the Keys is very simple. Follow the main street called Overseas Highway; this is a road with a length of 204 km. This is the southernmost piece of highway called U.S. Highway Number 1 and runs from Key West all the way to New England. Most locations in the Keys refer to the "Mile Marker" a system that is used for certain segments of the highway. If you leave the mainland to the south you will pass the first marker just south of Florida City.
You'll see a narrow green and white sign on the side of the road with the number 127 on it. This sign indicates that you're 127 miles away from Key West.

 

If people in Key West give each other some city information than they refer to a marker on the road.
For example, if you go to one of the best fish restaurants then you have to go to marker 88 and strangely enough this restaurant is called marker 88 ". The best way to Key West is to come by car. From Miami to Key Largo, it is a 1 hour drive and by a further Key West it is 3.5 hours more.
The drive on this road is magnificent, on the one hand the Atlantic Ocean and on the other side Florida Bay. It is best to do this ride daytime because then you will enjoy the best views.

 

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