Florida is one of the 50 states of the United States of North America and is one of the southern states of the country. The state has 19,057,542 inhabitants (2011). The capital is Tallahassee and the standard abbreviation for the state is Fl.
Topographically, Florida is the most southeastern state of the US. The state is bordered to the north by the states of Alabama and Georgia.
To the east, Florida is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, and to the south by Florida Bay and the Florida Straits. Cuba is south of Florida.
Landscape
Due to karst phenomena, Florida has many lakes, while the drainage, partly due to the low relief of 15 to 30 meters high; with the highest point 100 meters, is relatively bad.
The largest lake with an area of about 1900 km2 is Lake Okeechobee. The largest river is the St. Johns with a length of 460 kilometers.
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are located in the south of the state. This is a chain of about 50 small coral islands.
They are largely connected to each other and to the mainland by a 200-kilometer road.
Climate and holidays
The climate in Florida has a semi-tropical monsoon character, with humid, warm summers and dry, very mild winters.
The south of the state has peat and swamp areas. This is also where the Everglades are located, which is partly a national park.
Tourism is an important source of income for Florida. On the east coast, Palm Beach, Miami Beach, Fort Lauerdale, and Dayton Beach attract many vacationers.
Other tourist attractions include Walt Disney World Park at Orlando, Cypress Gardens at Winter Haven, Everglades and Biscayne National Parks, and the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.
Cape Canaveral
The Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral serves as a launch site for NASA’s space research.
Florida Cities
In addition to the capital, Tallahassee, there are a number of major cities in Florida: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Saint Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Port Saint Lucie, Pembroke Pines.
Airports
The largest international airports in Florida are: Miami International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Tampa International Airport.
Florida counties
The state of Florida in the southeastern United States is administratively subdivided into 67 counties.
Florida
Florida borders the states of Alabama and Georgia. The state borders the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the west, and Florida Bay and the Florida Straits to the south.
Gulf Islands National Seashore
Gulf Island is often called the long coastline running along the west coast of Florida. The belt consists of several parts, or rather islands, which are interconnected to form a unique landscape. Gulf Islands is located in the Gulf of Mexico and consists of the islands of Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key, Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch.
Tourists are attracted here mainly by beautifully clean sandy beaches, azure sea, great recreational opportunities and excellent local cuisine in renowned restaurants. Pleasant rest and relaxation awaits you at all the local beaches. The beaches have a gradual entry into the sea, so they are often sought after by families with small children and less able swimmers. You will find everything you need to spend a relaxing and undisturbed holiday like in paradise. Several hotels have been built here, which offer top services, but also numerous other accommodation resorts.
Water sports enthusiasts will find something to their liking here, they can choose from a varied menu and taste attractions such as jet skiing, water skiing, parasailing, paragliding, renting a small or large motor boat, kayak or yacht. So if you are one of the people who love active rest, staying in the Gulf Islands is the right place for you.
Gullah / Geechee CHC
Descendants of African slaves who were brought to the United States at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries are referred to as Gullah or GeeChee . They were members of various tribes, most of whom were imported from West Africa to work in Charleston. Due to tribal differences, these slaves could not communicate with each other, so they created their own language, which was a combination of English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and the languages of the African tribes.
The term gullah thus probably comes from the Gola or Gora tribes, which in the past inhabited the territory of today’s Liberia. Today, this unolized English is used by blacks living on the coast from South Carolina to Florida. This culture, together with the language, is most represented in the American Sea Islands chain. These islands used to be dotted with rice and cotton plantations, but today they are home to about 150,000 African Americans.
To this day, these people have managed to preserve their specific language, religion, culture, traditions, crafts and music. The members of the community have kept in mind and in everyday life everything that their ancestors brought from Africa.
