The Nifty Fifty: Florida

Florida is a state in the southern region of the United States with the abbreviation of FL. Florida became the 27th state on March 3, 1845, which makes the state 178 years old, as of March 2023. The state was named after the former Spanish colonies of East and West Florida. The two colonies were given their name because, in 1513, Ponce de Leon landed there on Easter Sunday, which is the Spanish Pascua de Flores, meaning Feast of Flowers.

Florida is the 22nd largest state and the 3rd most populous. The capital of Florida is Tallahassee. The demonym of Florida is Floridian and the state is bordered by Alabama, Georgia, and the Atlantic Ocean.

The motto of the state of Florida is In God We Trust.

Florida’s official nickname is The Sunshine State, which reflects the state’s sunny and tropical climate. Florida is also sometimes called The Peninsula State, since the state is almost entirely composed of a peninsula.

The Landscape of Florida is full of forests, prairies, scrubs, seagrass beds, islands, mangrove swamps, coral reefs, lakes, rivers, and estuaries. Florida is said to have about 1,400 miles of coastline, but it could be said to have 8,400 miles of coastline, depending on the method used to measure the state’s coast. Regardless of which method is used, it is agreed that Florida has the second longest coastline in the United States.

Florida is known for its warm weather, picturesque beaches, and delicious seafood. Florida is also the flattest state in the US. The state also contains minerals such as sand, gravel, clay, sandstone, calcite, ilmenite, monazite, pyrite, staurolite, and zircon.

Roy Stanley Geiger was born in Middleburg, Florida, on January 25, 1885. Geiger served in the United States Marine Corps for 40 years; he served during the Philippine-American War, World War I, the Banana Wars, and World War II. During the Second World War, Geiger led troops in the Battle of Guadalcanal, and he was even involved in the planning of the battles of Guam and Okinawa; Geiger also became the first US Military Governor of Guam. Geiger was posthumously promoted to four star general in 1947.

Key Lime Pie has been a well liked dessert for many years. This delectable dessert appears to have been invented in Key West, Florida, during the early 20th century, however, there are disputes about who invented the dessert. Key Lime Pie became the official pie of Florida in 2006.

In early November, 1814, General Andrew Jackson, who would later become the President of the United States, led troops during the Battle of Pensacola, during the War of 1812. Jackson planned to drive the British out of Spanish Florida and then march to New Orleans to defend the city from any British attack. On November 7, Jackson sent 3,000 troops to capture the city of Pensacola, where they met some resistance. The American troops managed to capture Fort San Miguel from the Spanish with very few casualties, but the British fled the city before the Americans arrived at the fort which the British held. The Battle of Pensacola resulted in an American victory.

An interesting fact about Florida is that it is the only state to have an embassy in Washington, DC. The embassy was founded in 1973 as an educational center and a place for Floridians to meet in Washington, DC.

A strange fact about Florida is that, in 1982, the United States Border Patrol placed a roadblock and inspection point on the only road connecting Key West, Florida, to the mainland US. The roadblock was intended to stop the smuggling of narcotics into the US, however, the inconvenience of the constant searches frustrated residents of Key West; they felt as if they were being treated like a foreign nation. On April 23 of that year, Dennis Wardlow, the Mayor of Key West, took matters into his own hands by declaring Key West’s independence from the US and establishing the Conch Republic. Wardlow was proclaimed the Prime Minister of the Conch Republic, after which he immediately declared war on the United States and struck a US Naval Officer with a stale loaf of Cuban bread. About one minute into the war, Wardlow surrendered to the Officer whom he attacked, effectively ending the war; Wardlow then applied for $1 billion in foreign aid. There have been some attempts to keep the identity of the Conch Republic, but the republic is neither officially recognized nor sovereign.

What fact about Florida most interests you?