Florida . . . State 27
Florida's official flag was adopted in 1900. Florida's flag has a red cross of St. Andrew on a white field; in the center is the state seal. The seal features a brilliant sun, a cabbage palmetto tree, a steamboat sailing and a Native American Seminole woman scattering flowers. Florida's flag represents the land of sunshine, flowers, palm trees, rivers and lakes.
Florida was admitted to the United States as a state on March 3, 1845 as the 27th state. The state capital is Tallahassee and the largest City is Jacksonville. Florida is the 4th most populous state behind Texas, California & New York.
Florida has a variety of landscape
with many marshes, springs,
swamps and countless small lakes
and ponds. The Florida Keys,
a chain of small islands, curves
to the southwest, into the Gulf
of Mexico. Exceptional sand
beaches are found along the
entire length of shoreline,
and thick forests blanket the
central and northeast. Rolling
green hills extend from north
of Gainesville to its far western
border with Alabama. Citrus
grooves (mostly orange and grapefruit)
cover the central part of the
state.
The great warm climate is why
many visit and relocate to Florida.
The central and south parts
of Florida are hot and humid
and occasional afternoon thunderstorms
in the summer. Highs usually
average in the 80-90s, with
lows in the 70s. These coastal
areas also experience nice breezes
during the summer. Hurricanes
are common in Florida mostly
in the summer and early fall.
In the central and north winter
conditions are mild but can
occasionally be damp and cold.
Central and south Florida are
warm in the winter with occasional
rains and cooler conditions.
The state's mild winters have
made it a popular retirement
destination. Weather from Miami
south into the Keys is considered
perfect year-round and Key West
has the highest average temperature
in the United States.
Florida is one of the most popular
retirement and vacation destination
in the nation. The main industry
for Florida's economy is Tourism.
Florida is known to many as
the land of sunshine, magnificent
beaches, orange groves, Universal
Studios, the Florida Keys, the
Everglades, Disney World, NASA
and the Kennedy Space Center.
Many visit and relocate to Florida
because of the of the the 1200
miles of beautiful sand beaches,
1800 miles of coastline and
Florida has more golf courses
than any other state in the
nation.
Florida leads the southeast
in farm income and the economy
consists of:
Agriculture: Citrus, vegetables,
nursery stock, cattle, sugarcane,
dairy products. Florida produces
more than 75% of the nations
oranges and 40% of the worlds
orange juice. The major industries
in Florida are tourism, electric
equipment, food processing,
printing and publishing, transportation
equipment and machinery.
Florida has 67 counties:
Alachua
Baker
Bay Bradford
Brevard Broward
Calhoun Charlotte
Citrus Clay
Collier Columbia
Dade De Soto
Dixie Duval
Escambia Flagler
Franklin Gadsden Gilchrist
Glades Gulf
Hamilton Hardee
Hendry Hernando Highlands
Hillsborough
Holmes Indian River
Jackson Jefferson
Lafayette Lake
Lee Leon Levy
Liberty Madison Manatee
Marion Martin
Monroe Nassau
Okaloosa Okeechobee
Orange Osceola
Palm Beach
Pasco Pinellas
Polk Putnam
St. Johns St. Lucie
Santa Rosa Sarasota
Seminole Sumter
Suwannee Taylor
Union Volusia Wakulla
Walton Washington
