Florida - The Sunshine State

A low peninsula state of the southeast United States between the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico - The state of Florida is bordered by Georgia and Alabama.

Juan Ponce de León discovered and settled on the peninsula on Easter Sunday, March 27, 1513, which is known as Pascua Florida in Spanish. ‘Florida’ is a Spanish adjective that means flowery.

Florida was one of the Confederate states during the Civil War, and it was admitted as the 27th state of U.S. in 1845. Florida is officially nicknamed as “the Sunshine State.”

Tallahassee is the capital and Jacksonville the largest city of Florida. FL is the abbreviation of Florida. Destin, Jacksonville, Key West, Miami, Naples, Tampa, Saint Petersburg, Hialeah, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Pembroke Pines and Hollywood are the jewel cities of Florida.

Destin is commonly known as ‘The World's Luckiest Fishing Village’. Jacksonville or J-Ville is dubbed as “Where Florida Begins”. Key West is known as the Southernmost City. Miami is nicknamed as the “Magic City”. Orlando is widely known as “The Imaginary City”. Tallahassee is popularly dubbed as “Tally-Ho” or “The Hill” and Tampa is nicknamed as “The Cigar City”.

Florida has a highly flourishing tourism industry. The sunny weather and hundreds of miles of beautiful beach attracts the tourists from all parts of the world. Florida has become the most desired destination for beach vacations and golf vacations.

Florida is home to Walt Disney World, an amusement park near Orlando, and many other theme parks. The Walt Disney World Resort with four theme parks, numerous water parks, exquisite Florida hotels, shopping centers are major tourist attractions of the state.

The state is also home to the Kennedy Space Center. St. Augustine, located on the coast of Northern Florida, is the oldest city in the United States, settled in the sixteenth century by Spain.

Climate: Florida is a peninsula state, so the state has temperate and humid subtropical climate, however the extreme tip of the state has true tropical climate. Generally Florida has relatively dry winters, dry autumns, hot-wet springs and wet summers. The state experiences average 300 days of full sunshine a year.

Florida is under the threats of hurricanes during the Hurricane season that lasts from June 1 to November 30. The state has been hit by a record four disastrous hurricanes uptill now.

Traveling to Florida: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Miami International Airport, Orlando International Airport, and Tampa International Airport are major international airports of the state of Florida.

The secondary airports of the state include Jacksonville International Airport, Palm Beach International Airport, and Southwest Florida International Airport. The state also have regional airports at Daytona Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Gainesville, Key West, Melbourne, Naples, Panama City, Pensacola, Tallahassee and Orlando Sanford International Airport.

Florida Department of Transportation maintains interstates, state highways and U.S. Highways of the state. Florida's interstate highway system contains 1,473 miles (2,371 km) of highway.

Florida, Orlando is the southern terminus of the Amtrak Auto Train. Orlando is also the eastern terminus of the Sunset Limited that travels across the southern United States via New Orleans, Houston, and San Antonio to its western terminus of Los Angeles. Additionally two Amtrak trains (the Silver Star and the Silver Meteor), which operate between New York City and Miami, serve Florida.