--  I was born and raised in Florida, I still live in Florida, and I've always been a Southerner, so I guess that proves it is. 

--  My Daddy was born in Tennessee and my Mama in Florida ... Mama and I considered ourselves as much a Southerner as Daddy.  Daddy wouldn't consider living anywhere but the South and he lived in Florida for 49 years.

--  And one more thing, Florida is about as far south as one can go and still remain on dry land. 
 
 

Florida is the land of flowers.  Florida’s name was inspired by flowers.  Spanish explorer, Juan Ponce de León, named it La Florida on April 2, 1513. The name honors Pasqua de Flores, the Spanish Feast of the Flowers at Eastertime. 

In keeping with its name, Florida’s state seal depicts an Indian woman strewing flowers on the ground. The woman represents Florida’s native tribes.

--  *After the Compromise of 1850, Florida joined the other Deep South states on the slow road to succession.  At the Southern Democratic Convention in June of 1859, the Florida delegation dominated by planters was the only state to join South Carolina to threaten secession if the Democrats don't openly oppose the antislavery forces.  When the National Democratic Convention selected Stephen Douglas of Illinois and a moderate platform, Florida's delegation backed a Southern Democratic candidate for President as the solution.  With the Democrats running three candidates in 1860, Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans won the White House and took control of dozens of Congressional seats held in the North and Midwest by Democrats.  South Carolina did not wait to discover what the Republicans would do with Congress, but elected to vote on secession and called for votes in the other slave states.   Florida's Governor Perry called a convention of secession in January 10, 1861 in Tallahassee to decide upon Florida's future.  Of the 69 delegates, 58 were slave owners.  Many others opposed secession as unconstitutional and tried to delay the vote, stating that Florida should wait for the decision of Alabama and Georgia.  Only seven delegates voted to delay an early secession vote.  Florida voted to secede as soon as the news arrived from South Carolina.   Florida was the third state to leave the Union, and within a month it joined with other southern states to form the Confederate States of America.*

--  *By February, seven Southern states had seceded and elected to meet in Montgomery, Alabama to form the Confederate States of America.  They would not wait for Virginia to secede or wait for Lincoln's inauguration to find out what Republican policies would be adopted.  Governor Perry ordered the seizure of Federal arsenals in St. Augustine, Fernandiana, and Chattahoochee, to provide the state militia with weapons.  President Lincoln was determined to preserve the Union and to maintain whatever Federal sites were left in the South.  The firing on Union supplies at Fort Sumter in the Charleston, South Carolina Harbor officially placed the North and the South in a Civil War.  Virginia left the Union and because they were the richest and largest Confederate state, the capital was switched to Richmond.  Florida was requested to recruit 5,000 soldiers.  In three months, Florida had 6,772 volunteers.  The majority of the South's volunteers were small farmers who owned no slaves.  Before the end of the conflict, about 15,000 Floridians out of a population of just 78,000 whites fought in the Civil War.  Some 1,209 whites and 1,044 African-Americans from Florida served in the Union Army.  Of the state's 15,000 soldiers, one third would fail to return home.  Everyone from planter to slave felt the impact of the Civil War.  Despite the fears that slaves would rebel, most slaves remained on the plantation, often assuming all roles of field and barn management.  While many slaves headed to Jacksonville to join the Union Army, others were hired by the State of Florida to rebuild roads and bridges.*

--  First permanent European settlement -  1565, St. Augustine, by Spain

--  Admitted to U.S. as state -   March 3, 1845 (27th state)

--  Capital -  Tallahassee

--  Population 1999 -  15,982,378   (1990 was 12,937,926)

--  Number of Counties -  67 

--  Total Area -  58,560 square miles -- Total Land Area:  54,252 sq.miles -- Total  Water Area:  4,308 sq. miles

--  Length North & South -  447 miles (St. Marys River to Key West)

--  Width East & West -  361 miles (Atlantic Ocean to Perdido River)

--  Distance from Pensacola to Key West -  792 miles (by road)

--  Highest Natural Point -  345 feet near Lakewood in northeast Walton County

--  Coastline -  1,197 statute miles

--  Tidal shoreline (general) - 2,276 statute miles

--  Beaches -  663 miles

--  Longest River -  St. Johns River, 273 miles

--  Largest Lake -  Lake Okeechobee, 700 square miles

--  Number of lakes (greater than 10 acres) -  about 7,700

--  Number of first-magnitude springs -  27

--  Number of islands (greater than 10 acres) -  about 4,500
 
 

Stephen C. Foster, one of America's best-loved musical story tellers, wrote "The Swanee River (Old Folks at Home)" in 1851. A memorial center at White Springs honors Foster, who authored about 200 songs during his career, although he had never visited Florida.  The Suwannee River flows southerly from the Okeefenokee Swamp in Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico in Florida, topographically slicing the Florida panhandle from the rest of the state.

Written in 1894 by Rev.  Dr. C. V. Waugh, a professor of languages at the Florida Agricultural College at Lake City,  "Florida, My Florida" was adopted in the 1913 Legislature as Florida's State Song until 1935, when "Swanee River" became the official State Song. 

Like the Spanish explorers who discovered Florida, its state flower is not native to North America but is probably native to China.

The waxy, white blossoms of the orange tree are very fragrant.   Tons of Florida orange blossoms were once shipped to weddings across the country. 

In 1967, Florida adopted a state beverage, orange juice.

Concentrated orange juice was developed during World War II.  After the war, a frozen concentrate was developed and orange juice production exploded into a multi-billion dollar industry.

Some of Florida’s biggest events celebrate its citrus industry. These include the Orange Blossom Festival and the Orange Bowl.
 
 

Many flags have flown over Florida since Juan Ponce de León landed in 1513. Among
them have been the flags of five sovereign nations: Spain, France, Great Britain, the
United States, and the Confederate States of America. Numerous other unofficial flags
also have been flown on the peninsula at one time or another.

A joint resolution of the legislature in 1899, approved by state voters in1900, made the current State Flag the official banner of Florida. The official specifications for the flag are -  "The State Flag shall conform with standard commercial sizes and be of the following portions and descriptions: The seal of the state, in diameter one-half the hoist, shall occupy the center of a white ground. Red bars, in width one-fifth the hoist, shall extend from each corner towards the center, to the outer rim of the seal." 

Between 1868 and 1900, Florida's state flag consisted of a white field with the state seal in the center. During the late 1890s, Governor Francis P. Fleming suggested that a red cross be added, so that the banner did not appear to be a white flag of truce or surrender when hanging still on a flagpole.
 
 

	Spanish Discovery - 1513 Spain did not have a national flag when Juan Ponce de Leon first came to Florida in 1513.  At the time, the Spanish royal banner was the flag of Castile and Leon.  This flag has become associated with early Spanish exploration of the Americas, although it is not known whether this banner was actually carried ashore in Florida by Ponce de Leon.
	French Attempts at Settlement 1564 In 1564, the French established a short-lived settlement near Jacksonville at the mouth of the St. Johns River.  During this time there was no single official flag for France.  Their flag may have had a blue background with the gold fleurs-de-lys.  The French also occupied Pensacola from 1719 to 1722 during the War of the Quadruple Alliance.
	First Spanish Occupation 1565-1793 - Cross of Burgundy The Cross of Burgundy represented Spanish rule in Florida from 1565-1793.  The X-shaped cross symbolized the rough branches of the trees on which Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Burgundy, was crucified.
	British Union Flag - 1763-1784 The red Cross of St. George, the patron saint of England, was the major element of the British flag.  In combination with the white Scottish Cross of St. Andrew, it formed the Union flag.  This flag flew over Florida from 1763 until 1784.
	Second Spanish Occupation - Spanish National Flag - 1784-1821 Charles III created this Spanish flag in 1785.  It flew over Florida until the United States took official possession of the territory in 1821.
	State of Muskogee - 1799-1803 Englishman William Augustus Bowles designed this flag after a congress of Creeks and Seminoles elected him director general of the State of Muskogee in 1799.  The capital of this state was the Indian village of Mikasuke, near Tallahassee.  Bowles was captured and turned over to Spanish authorities in 1803, later dying in a Havana prison.  The State of Muskogee came to an end.
	Republic of West Florida - 1810 This flag flew over the Free and Independent State of West Florida Sept. 23 - Dec. 6, 1810, covering the area below the thirty-first parallel between the Mississippi and Pearl Rivers, now a part of Louisiana. This flag later became the unofficial ensign of the South in 1860-61 and inspired Harry McCarthy to compose the song, "The Bonnie Blue Flag."
	Patriots Flag - 1812 On March 13, 1812, a group of 70 people from Georgia and nine from Florida crossed the St. Marys River to Amelia Island to establish the "Territory of East Florida."  They read a manifesto and raised a flag with a Latin inscription, meaning "The safety of the people, the supreme law."  President James Madison refused to acknowledge their claim and the movement failed.
	Green Cross Flag - 1817 American citizens, desiring the independence of Florida, in 1817 sponsored an expedition into the Spanish territory led by Gregor MacGregor, a veteran of Latin American revolutions.  The group occupied Amelia Island on June 20 and raised a white flag with a green cross.  Four months later they were forced to leave.
	The 27th State - July 4, 1845 The United States government admitted Florida as the 27th state on March 3, 1845.  By law, new stars were added to the national flag on the 4th of July following the admission of each new state.  The 27th star was added for Florida on July 4, 1845.
	Proposed State Flag - 1845 On March 3, 1845, Florida became the 27th state.  Citizens of Tallahassee presented incoming Governor William D. Moseley with a flag that flew at his inauguration.  Because of a controversy surrounding its motto, it never became an official state flag. (The flag shown here is reconstructed from a written description).
	Florida Secession Banner - 1861 Unofficial "secession" flags were flying in many parts of the state even before Florida left the Union.  "The Ladies of Broward's Neck" in Duval County presented this flag to Governor Madison Starke Perry.  It was displayed at the Capitol when the Ordinance of Secession was signed on January 11, 1861.
	Colonel Chase's Lone Star Flag - 1861 During the crisis preceding the outbreak of the Civil War, state forces took control of the federal forts and navy yard at Pensacola.  At the Pensacola Navy Yard, Colonel William H. Chase, commander of Florida troops, raised this flag, which had the same design as that used by the Republic of Texas Navy 1836-1845.
	Florida's First Official Flag - 1861 After Florida seceded from the Union in January 1861, several unofficial flags flew over the state.  The general assembly passed an act directing Governor Perry to adopt "an appropriate device for a State flag which shall be distinctive in character."  Six months later, the governor had the secretary of state record the description of Florida's first official flag. Whether it was ever raised over the Capitol or in the field is unknown.  (The flag shown here is reconstructed from a written description).
	Confederate First National Pattern "Stars and Bars"  - 1861-1863 During the Civil War, Floridians fought under several different patterns of Confederate flags.  The "Stars and Bars" flag was selected without a formal vote by the Confederate government in March 1861.  Because of its similarity to the U.S. flag, the Stars and Bars was sometimes confused with the Stars and Stripes in the smoke of battle.  Later, a more distinctive banner was designed to replace the Stars and Bars on the battlefield.
	Battle Flag - 1861-1865 In the latter part of 1861, Confederate field commanders in Virginia began using the square "Southern Cross" as a battle flag.  Within two years, Southern military units serving in parts of Florida also received flags of this design.  In 1863, a rectangular version, without a white border, became the official Confederate naval jack.  This later banner also was used as a battle flag in the western theatre of the war.
	Confederate Second National Pattern "Stainless Banner" -  1863-1865 From May 1863 until March 1865, the official flag of the Confederate States of America incorporated the design of the battle flag as a major feature.  It was nicknamed the "Stainless Banner" because of its large white field.
	Confederate Third National Pattern - 1865 On March 4, 1865, the design of the Confederate national flag was altered because its white field could be mistaken for a flag of truce or surrender.  This new pattern featured a vertical red bar added to the outer edge.  Because the war ended weeks after this pattern was adopted, it saw very little wartime use.
	Second Official State Flag - 1868-1900 The Constitutional Convention of 1868 provided Florida with its second official flag.  It declared that the legislature should, as soon as convenient, "adopt a State Emblem having the design of the Great Seal of the State impressed upon a white ground of six feet six inches fly and six feet deep."
	Current Official State Flag - 1900-present time During the late 1890s, Governor Francis P. Fleming suggested that a red cross be added, so that the banner did not appear to be a white flag of truce or surrender when hanging still on a flagpole.
	Tribal Miccosukee Flag - 1962-present time  It is a Miccosukee belief that life spins in a circle starting in the east and moving to the north, west and south.  The colors of the Miccosukee flag represent these four points of the compass.  East is represented by the color yellow, north by red, west by black, and south by white.  The Miccosukee Tribe adopted this flag in 1962.
	The Seminole Tribe of Florida - 1979-present time The Seminole Tribe of Florida's flag features the four traditional colors of the Seminole and Miccosukee people.  The central seal, with its fire and open, palm-thatched hut, called a chickee, represents the tribal council.