Florida Facts

In 1513, Ponce de León, seeking the mythical “Fountain of Youth,” discovered and named Florida, claiming it for Spain. Later, Florida would be held at different times by Spain and England until Spain finally sold it to the United States in 1819.

Capital: Tallahassee

Average Annual Temprature: 83

Annual days of Sunshine: 341

Governor: Charlie Crist, R (to Jan. 2011)

Population: #4 with 18,089,889 (2006 estimated)

Organized as territory: March 30, 1821

Entered Union (rank): March 3, 1845 (27)

Present constitution adopted: 1969

Motto: In God we trust (1868)


State symbols:

Flower:	Orange Blossom (1909)
Bird:	Mockingbird (1927)
Song:	“Suwannee River” (1935)

Nickname: Sunshine State (1970)

Origin of name: From the Spanish Pascua Florida, meaning “feast of flowers” (Easter)

Land area: 53,927 sq mi. (139,671 sq km)    

State forests: 31 (more than 890,000 ac.)

State parks: 159 (over 723,000+ ac.)

State Coastline: 1,202 miles


Local Paper   OrandoSentinel.com