Florida is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Bordering the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Straits of Florida and Cuba to the south. Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, spanning approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km), not including its many barrier islands. It is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. 

Florida has a population of over 21 million, it is the third-most populous state in the United States and ranks eighth in population density as of 2020. Florida spans 65,758 square miles (170,310 km2), ranking 22nd in area among the states. 

The Miami metropolitan area, anchored by the cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, is the state's largest metropolitan area, with a population of over 6 million. The most populous city is in Florida is Jacksonville. Florida's other major population centers include Tampa Bay, Orlando, Cape Coral, and the state capital of Tallahassee. 

In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León became the first known European to make landfall, calling the region La Florida (land of flowers). Florida subsequently became the first area in the continental U.S. to be permanently settled by Europeans, with the settlement of St. Augustine, founded in 1565, being the oldest continuously inhabited city. Florida was a Spanish territory frequently attacked and coveted by Great Britain before Spain ceded it to the U.S. in 1819 in exchange for resolving the border dispute along the Sabine River in Spanish Texas. 

In 1845 Florida is admitted into the United States as the 27th state. After centuries of Spanish rule, 20 years of British control, and almost 25 years as a U.S. territory, Florida was finally voted in as a state. President John Tyler signed the admission bill. Floridians had voted in a referendum in favor of statehood in 1838 and a state constitution was approved in 1839, but it was not until the U.S. Congress approved the act in 1845 admitting both Florida and Iowa that it became official. After admission the State Legislative Council began in haste to organize its first state election, which occurred in May of 1845, to elect a governor, a member of the U.S. Congress, 17 state senators and 41 state representatives. The total population of Florida in 1845 was approximately 66,000. 

Paleo-Indians entered Florida at least 14,000 years ago. By the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major groups of people living in Florida included the Apalachee of the Florida Panhandle, the Timucua of northern and central Florida, the Ais of the central Atlantic coast, and the Calusa of southwest Florida. [1]

Florida was the first region of what is now the contiguous United States to be visited and settled by Europeans. The earliest known European explorers came with Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2, 1513. He named it La Florida in recognition of the flowery, verdant landscape and because it was the Easter season, which the Spaniards called Pascua Florida (Festival of Flowers). The following day they came ashore to seek information and take possession of this new land. The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is mythical and appeared only long after his death. [1]

In May 1539, Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land. He described a thick wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet (21 m), with intertwined and elevated roots making landing difficult. The Spanish introduced Christianity, cattle, horses, sheep, the Castilian language, and more to Florida. Spain established several settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success. In 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola, making it one of the firsts settlements in Florida, but it was mostly abandoned by 1561. [1]

In 1564–1565, there was a French settlement at Fort Caroline, in present Duval County, which was destroyed by the Spanish. Today a reconstructed version of the fort stands in its location within Jacksonville. [1]

In 1565, the settlement of St. Augustine (San Agustín) was established under the leadership of admiral and governor Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, creating what would become the oldest, continuously occupied European settlements in the continental U.S. and establishing the first generation of Floridanos and the Government of Florida. Spain maintained strategic control over the region by converting the local tribes to Christianity. The marriage between Luisa de Abrego, a free black domestic servant from Seville, and Miguel Rodríguez, a white Segovian, occurred in 1565 in St. Augustine. It is the first recorded Christian marriage in the continental United States. [1]

Some Spanish married or had unions with Pensacola, Creek, or African women, both slave and free, and their descendants created a mixed-race population of mestizos and mulattoes. The Spanish encouraged slaves from the Thirteen Colonies to come to Florida as a refuge, promising freedom in exchange for conversion to Catholicism. King Charles II of Spain issued a royal proclamation freeing all slaves who fled to Spanish Florida and accepted conversion and baptism. Most went to the area around St. Augustine, but escaped slaves also reached Pensacola. St. Augustine had mustered an all-black militia unit defending Spanish Florida as early as 1683. [1]